Roomies
by bee87
Summary: Follow Ray and Neela's journey after Shifting Eqilibrium. How does their relationship pan out? What obstacles will Neela face in her new job? Find out more about the medicine Ray practices now. Rated M for lemons
1. Reunion

**I don't own any of ER just playing with the characters**

**NPOV**

I was at O'Hare airport, Simon had just left. He had come to say a proper goodbye. We had been through a lot together, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that there was someone out there, better for each of us. I'm glad that he didn't know where I was really going, because it would hurt his feelings.

There was an announcement informing me that it was the last boarding call for my flight. As I made my way to the relevant gate I began to panic. Was I making a huge mistake? Could this move be detrimental to my surgical career? I was leaving everything I knew behind. All my friends were at County and my mentor. All though Lucien gave me a friendly hug goodbye, I sensed that he still felt betrayed by my decision to not stay at County.

I pulled out my cell and called the one person who could help me. I dialled the number and waited anxiously for someone to answer.

"Hello" came a warm, friendly voice.

"Abby, it's Neela" I responded.

"Neela" she said, surprised. "Aren't you supposed to be up in the air right now?" she asked.

My plane was delayed, due to bad weather. Abby, am I doing the right thing?" I came to a stop, just before the gate. I only had minutes to wait for her answer.

"Yes, you're doing the right thing. Now get on the damn plane" she said, rather tersely.

"Okay, thanks. Bye"

"Bye"

I missed Abby, she was my best friend. Although she had been offered an attending position at County she had opted to move to Boston. Her and Luka had been having marital problems, after her drinking relapse last year, whilst Luka was busy attending to his sick father in Croatia. Luka had agreed that they could work things out, but wanted to move somewhere that noone knew them. Abby had followed her heart and made the move. We still e-mailed from time to time. She sent photos of Joe, I was amazed how much he had grown in a single year. Luka and Abby were more in love now than they had ever been. Could I find the same happiness they had? I guess I would find out soon enough, I handed over my boarding pass and made my way down the tunnel, to the plane.

……………..

I had arrived in Baton Rouge a little over an hour ago. I rented a car and made my way to my new hospital, Lechatlier Medical Center. After getting a visitor badge I nervously found my way to the rehabilitation unit.

I looked around in admiration at all the good work being performed right in front of my eyes. I scanned across the room until finally I saw him. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, and a snug grey t-shirt that accentuated his athletic physique. He hadn't notice me yet. That's when he glanced in my general direction and did a double take, before smiling in my direction. I was glad that he seemed genuinely pleased to see me here.

After excusing himself from his patient, he walked towards me, with a look on his face that expressed that he couldn't believe I was here.

"Finally" he sighed. "Are you really here?" he asked softly, quirking his eyebrows.

"I really am" was my response. We shared a moment looking longingly into each others eyes. The corners of my lips tugged upwards into a smile.

Here with Ray all my worries dissipated as I knew I had made the right decision, following my heart rather than my head. Ray was the man I loved. If I was truthful I had been in love with him for a very long time; since before Michael died in Iraq. It was my guilt for loving Ray whilst still married to Michael and me blaming myself for Ray's accident that had kept us apart for the past three years.

**RPOV**

I still couldn't believe she was really here. After being in love with Neela for four years, she was ready to be with me. Sure she had called to let me know that she had accepted a job offer here in Baton Rouge. I hadn't really expected her to turn up though. This wouldn't be the first time that Neela had made a promise, I had got my hopes up, only to be crushed when she didn't live up to that promise.

Both of us had been through a lot in the past couple of years. Neela was still coming to terms with the sudden death of her late husband Dr. Michael Gallant and on top of all that she still blamed herself for my accident. I had gone through a bad time in the hospital just after my accident where I had tried to kill myself. Luckily I was unsuccessful and now I had found my true calling and it was as a rehabilitation specialist.

When I saw her last October in Chicago I saw how well things had turned out for her. She had become a very accomplished surgeon. When she told me that she blamed herself for my accident I reminded her that I had been drunk and stood in the middle of the road. I hated that it was her guilt that had kept us from becoming a couple.

As we had danced in her apartment we had shared a moment, I had leaned in to kiss her, only to be interrupted by some new doc called Simon. After she had spoken to him it was clear that our moment had passed and I gave her a lingering kiss goodbye.

That was the last time I saw her until now. We had kept in contact via e-mail and phone calls (turns out her and this Simon dated for a while.)

Now, here she was, stood in front of me, ready to embark on a new life with me. I was so happy at this moment in time.

"If you give me ten minutes, I'll be finished here and we can go grab some lunch in the cafeteria" I said.

"Okay, I'll just wait outside" she said, pointing towards the door.

"See you in ten" I said, as I made my way back to my patient, still smiling ecstatically. I had wanted to kiss her so badly, but it was hardly the appropriate place for such a public display of affection, after all this was where I worked.

Finally, I thought once again.

**A/N So this chapter brings us up to where we left the roomies at the end of season 15. Should I continue with this story. Let me know, also if you have any suggestions for where the story could go let me know, because I'm winging it at the mo. Thanks :)**


	2. Move In With Me

**A/N Thanks for the reviews encouraging me to continue with the story. **

**I don't own ER - just playing with the characters**

**RPOV**

I walked outside and Neela was there waiting for me, she was still smiling. I hadn't seen her looking so happy for a very long time. I went over to her "Hey" I said, grabbing her in my arms. She wrapped her arms around my neck. I leaned backwards, just enough so that I pulled her as close as I possibly could, her feet just lifting off the floor.

"Hi" she replied softly.

I brought her back down to the ground, saying "I'm so glad that you're here" I lightly kissed her forehead.

"I'm glad I came"

"Come on" I grabbed hold of her hand. "Let's go eat."

A few minutes later we were in the hospital canteen. It was a relatively large room with peach walls; they were adorned with various pictures. The menu choice here was rather limited, but you could usually find something to satisfy your appetite. Whilst Neela ordered a chicken salad, I opted for a burger and fries. After paying we found a table and sat down.

"So what's new at County?" I asked, before shovelling some fries into my mouth.

"Gates and Sam are back together. I think Morris is about ready to settle down with the cop he's been dating"

"Really?" I asked, unable to hide my surprise.

"Yeah, he's really grown up in the time since you left. He's certainly done what Carter told him to."

"What was that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows in an inquisitive manner.

"When Carter left to go be with Kem, he told Morris 'you set the tone'"

"How is Carter? I remember you saying something about him needing a kidney transplant."

"As far as I know he's doing really well since receiving a new kidney about a month ago"

We had finished eating and I still had one question left to ask. "Neela, where are you living?"

"I don't have a place yet, so I'm just going to stay at a hotel whilst I look for one"

"Neela, don't be ridiculous"

"What?" she asked, a little pissed off.

I needed a moment to build up the courage to say what I wanted to say. "Neela, I think we should live together again. Will you move in with me?" I waited nervously, for her answer.

It wasn't like the last time I asked her to live with me. That time it was an arrangement that benefited each of us. Neela needed a place she could afford after Abby had asked her to move out. My roommate had pulled out at the last minute and I needed someone to split the rent with. I was still with my band back then and it meant weeks could go by without us even seeing each other.

This time it was a different situation, I was asking Neela to move in with me because I loved her and wanted to live with her.

"Okay" she replied.

I glanced at my watch "I've got to go back to work, but I've got a surprise for you when we get back home. What are you doing for the rest of the afternoon?"

"I thought I could visit the surgical department and meet some of my new colleagues."

"I finish at five. I'll meet you just outside the main entrance"

"Alright"

I brushed my lips against hers and tenderly kissed her "See ya later"

I went back to the rehabilitation unit to see my next patient. He was a soldier who had lost his leg in Iraq. He had only gotten his prosthetic last week and was still learning how to walk again. Obviously I could emphasize with what he was up against, having lost my own legs. I had him walking up and down, using the balance bars to help support himself. "You're doing really well man" I said, giving him an encouraging pat on his shoulder.

Sometimes I missed the chaos of being an ER doc, where you never knew what would happen in a shift. The job I did now though was so much more rewarding. I was able to see every day the difference I could make in a person's life. The other advantage of working in rehab was the hours. I had office hours, working nine to five, Monday to Friday. No more working nights or weekends. In fact I was in the process of putting a new band together. I was still into recording music. Whenever I was happy with a song I had written I burned it onto a CD, along with a few other tracks and mailed it to Neela. After all most of my songs had something to do with her in one way or another.

I was so elated that Neela had agreed to move in with me. Even now she was still my best friend. I was glad that we had gotten back into contact with each other about a year ago. Our friendship had gone a little awry after the accident. I had been the one to reinitiate the contact, by sending her an e-mail. We found the spark again and in the last couple of months not a day passed without us contacting each other, whether it be by phone, e-mail or IM'ing.

There was only a couple more hours until five o'clock and I would be leaving. Don't get me wrong I love my job, but today was different. I wouldn't be going back to an empty house. The love of my life was coming home with me. When we got home I planned to cook a meal for Neela, before settling in for a night in front of the TV, watching The Omen. Soon after Neela had moved out of our apartment over three years ago, I had seen a cheap copy of the film and brought it, hoping that one day the two of us could finish what we had started, watching devil movies form the seventies.

One day I would have to ask Neela what it was that made her decide to leave everything she knew behind to come be with me. Now wasn't the right time for that conversation though. It was okay, I could wait. Right now I was concentrating on making it to five, so I could go home and embark on our new life together.

**NPOV**

After having had lunch with Ray, I was on my way to meet my new boss. The Chief of Surgery here at Lechatlier was a man called Rory Lloyd. I was dropping in unannounced and hoped that he would have time to see me today.

I walked towards his office; briefly pausing to ask his secretary "Is he free?"

She answered "Yes, just go ahead sweetie"

I knocked on the door and waited patiently for some sort of reply.

"Come in" a voice bellowed.

I opened the door and took a few tentative steps inside his office.

"How can I help you?" A small, rotund man asked. He was peering over his glasses that were resting on the end of his nose.

"Um. I'm Neela Rasgotra. I've recently accepted a surgical attending position here and I dropped by to introduce myself" I said, putting my hand forward, for him to shake. He grasped hold of my hand and I noticed that he had a very firm handshake.

"Rory Lloyd pleased to meet you. What did you say your name was again?"

"Neela Rasgotra" I replied, slowly becoming more confident.

"Rasgotra, Rasgotra" he muttered to himself, shuffling various bits of paper "Ah here we go" he said, pulling out a file of some sort. "You spent your residency in County General Hospital, Cook County Chicago. Am I correct?"

"Yes that's right"

"You'll be starting work here next week. I'm afraid you're going to be starting with a week of night shifts. As an attending here you will have residents from Toulain and have a faculty position. If you go to security and their set you up with an ID badge. I'll see you in a week"

"Oh, okay" he practically ushered me out of his office. I must have come at a bad time.

After visiting security and getting an ID badge I still had another couple of hours before I was due to meet Ray. What was I going to do until then? I walked over to my rental car, having made the decision to kill time by going for a drive.

As I drove around Baton Rouge, I saw a few places that I would like to visit with Ray some day.

The two hours had flown by and I was on my way back to the hospital to meet Ray. I made it to the main entrance just as Ray walked out. "Hi" he said softly, with a smile that lit up his face.

"Hi yourself" I replied, grabbing hold of his hand, unable to resist touching him.

"So I assume you drove here in a rental" he said.

"Yes" I said, nodding my head.

"Seeing as you don't know how to get back home it's probably easiest if you follow me" he said, taking his car keys out of his pocket.

He kissed me goodbye before walking over to his car. I got into my car, amazed at what he had just said. He had referred to his place as our home.

We had only been driving for about ten minutes before Ray pulled into River Road. I hadn't realized that he lived so close to the hospital, it would certainly be an easy journey into work each day.

I was surprised when Ray pulled into the driveway of a gorgeous house, complete with a front yard. Whilst I was still staring in shock at the house, Ray had already gotten out of his car and was now opening my door. He took hold of my hand, pulling me out of the car. "Don't look so surprised" he chuckled.

"Your house is amazing" I said, as we walked over to the front door.

"Our house" he corrected me. "Make yourself at home" he continued, throwing the keys in the dish whilst I closed the door.

As I made my way around the house, I saw Ray's guitar tucked away in the corner. Seeing his guitar reminded me of the CD he had sent to me on Valentine's Day. I felt my lips curl into a smile at the memory.

"What?" Ray questioned me about my smile, popping his head round from the kitchen, where he was cooking dinner.

"Nothing, just thinking about the CD you sent me" I said, before he went back to cooking.

After we had eaten the stir fry Ray had made we got comfortable on the couch, with a couple of beers. It was just like back in the days when we were living together, only now our feelings for each other were that much stronger. It turned out that Ray's surprise had been us watching The Omen so as to finish what we had started three years ago.

As I became tired I rested my head on Ray's shoulder, soon after I felt him move, to rest his head against mine. Right now I felt content, just sitting here next to the man I love. A few minutes later I felt Ray's lips, lightly brush against my forehead. I turned my head, looking longingly into his green eyes, his look mirrored my own. He brought his lips to mine, placing a soft kiss on my mouth. I had wanted to kiss him like this all day. The kiss started sweet and gentle before growing more passionate. My lips parted as Ray's tongue traced along my bottom lip. I massaged his tongue with mine. Whilst my hands moved to his head pulling him closer, his hands moved down to my waist. As I ran my hand over his head I was pleasantly surprised by how soft his hair felt, underneath my fingers.

Once we stopped kissing Ray stood up "I'm going to bed, you coming?" he asked, putting his hand out for me to take hold of. Actions spoke louder than words in this instance. I grabbed his outstretched hand, allowing him to pull me up and followed him upstairs and into his bedroom.

**A/N Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I will apologize now that I probably won't be updating next week as I am on holiday. If you like this story you may enjoy my Twilight story. It's called Graveyard Shift and is Twilight characters in an ER universe, AH. If there is anything you would like to see happen in this story feel free to PM me and maybe your suggestions will wind up in the story. Thanks :)**


	3. A New Start

**A/N Hi I'm back, having enjoyed my break in Paris. Thank you for the kind reviews they really help keep me going :) This chapter is only NPOV I didn't want to do RPOV as well because it's already quite long. Hope you enjoy.**

**Don't own ER just playing with the characters**

**NPOV **

I woke up, cradled in Ray's arms, my head across his chest. Lying like this felt comfortable and right. It was what I had been missing. I moved my head, to turn and face Ray, he was still asleep. I smiled upon seeing his peaceful, slumber. I propped myself up and sat there watching him sleep, musing over what it could be that was making him smile like that.

He woke up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Hey" he yawned.

"Hi" I said in response.

"How long you been awake?" he asked, shifting so that he was in a sitting position, alongside me.

"Not that long" I replied, sweetly.

He leaned over to kiss me on the lips. I shied away, clamping my hand over my mouth, conscious of my morning breath.

"What'd I do?" he asked, a look of worry, etched upon his face.

"No it's not you" I said quickly. "It's just... morning breath" I finished with embarrassment.

"Don't be so silly, I don't care about that" he caught my mouth with his, catching me off guard.

"Hmm, you taste like eggs" he said with a crooked grin.

"Sorry" I muttered under my breath, mortified.

"Neela, I like eggs" he quickly explained, putting my mind at ease.

I smiled, feeling a lot less self conscious now. He pecked me on the cheek, before expertly swivelling around on the bed so that he was now perched on the edge of the bed. This enabled him to strap on his prosthetics, with ease.

"You know I love you, right?" I clambered behind him, draping my arms over his shoulders and caressing his chest, whilst placing soft, tender kisses on the hollow of his ear. It was only right that I expressed how we felt about each other first, after everything I had put Ray through.

"Neela, you don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that. I love you too" I was overpowered by all the emotion expressed in his eyes, as he looked at me.

He angled his head back so that our lips could meet once more. After a brief kiss he disappeared off to the bathroom. I was left to contemplate how I was going to spend my day, without him. I would start by cooking a fry up for us.

I got out of bed and quickly walked down the stairs, I heard water running in the bathroom and Ray singing. I had forgotten, how many a morning in Chicago, when I had been trying to drift off to sleep after a particularly tiring night shift, Ray had woken me up singing at the top of his lungs. Listening to him now I realized how talented a singer he actually was. His voice was irrefutably sexy due to it's raspy quality.

Upon entering the kitchen I began to search for the frying pan and some oil. Luckily Ray was a creature of habit and they were both in the first place I looked for them, the cupboard above the sink, the same place they had been in our apartment.

I opened the refrigerator to find some eggs, butter and milk. Ray said that he liked eggs after all. I put the ingredients together into a plastic container and used a fork to whisk everything together. Meanwhile I had also grabbed some bread and shoved a couple of slices into the toaster, sat on the edge of the counter. I opened the microwave and popped the eggs in. I set the timer for two minutes.

Whilst the eggs were cooking I ducked my head back into the fridge and found some rashers of bacon. After squirting in some oil I carefully placed the bacon into the pan and placed it on the hotplate, igniting the gas, setting it at a medium heat. In the time it had taken me to do this both the toast and eggs were ready. I took the container from the microwave, using the fork to smash the now fluffy eggs into scrambled, manageable chunks. The bacon was sizzling away rather fiercely now, drawing my attention back to it. I used a spatula to flip the strips over, allowing the other side to cook.

"Mmm something smells good" Ray said, wrapping his arms around my waist. I turned my head to give him a quick kiss.

"Anything I can do?" he asked, politely.

"Could you get some plates?" I asked.

"Sure thing roomie" We were so much more than that. It was his nickname for me though.

He moved over to the cupboard and pulled out two plates, before walking back towards me.

"Here you go" he said, placing the plates down on the counter. After turning off the hotplate I quickly tansferred the bacon from the frying pan to the plate. Ray had gone ahead and buttered the toast and was now placing a couple of slices on each of our plates. I scooped the eggs over the toast whilst he went to get some ketchup and salt.

We walked over to the dining table and sat down, next to each other.

"I wish I didn't have to go to work today. I feel bad that I'm leaving you in a new place alone" he said, before pushing some bacon into his mouth.

"Don't be stupid, I'm probably going to spend most of the day unpacking anyway"

"This is delicious by the way" he said, referring to the fry-up.

"Thanks. Do you want some juice with that?" I asked, realizing I had neglected to get us some drinks.

"Can I have a coffee instead please?" he asked.

I disappeared off into the kitchen, fixing myself an orange juice and making Ray's coffee.

"Here you go" I said, placing the mug down on the table in front of him. I noticed his plate was already clear of any food.

"Come here" he said, pulling me down onto his lap, so that I was sat sideways, across him. He kissed me lightly on the lips. I dragged my plate of food over, not wanting to remove myself from his lap. As I ate my breakfast he moved his hand up and down my leg with the lightest of touches. His tender touch sent shivers running up and down my spine.

I placed my knife and fork on the plate having finished eating. I angled my face, as Ray leaned his towards me. Our mouths met as we gently kissed then pulled away before our lips found each other again. Only this time there was more passion behind the kiss. Ray caught hold of my bottom lip, gently sucking on it with his own lips. The intensity increased again as our tounges began to dance. When we came up for air I shifted my position so that I was facing Ray, my legs either side of his own. I loved kissing him, but doing it sideways on was rather uncomfortable. I hungrily moved my mouth back to his, resuming where we had previously left off. Whilst my hands went to his head, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss, Ray's fingertips were tracing light caresses up and down my back.

To my dissapointment Ray pulled away. " Neela, I have to go to work" he explained his actions.

"Okay" I sighed, removing myself from his lap. I picked up the plates and transferred them to the sink. Ray went to collect his car keys. He came back giving me a quick peck on the cheek, saying "I love you," before walking away. Before he had reached the front door I managed to yell "Love you too". After years of not being able to say those three little words we had now said them twice in one morning.

"Hey Neela" Ray's voice called.

"Yeah" I shouted back.

"Umm just to let you know I've got a couple of guys coming round tonight. We're going to have a jam session. I can cancel though if you'd like?"

"No, that's fine. I was probably going to send some e-mails tonight anyway." I knew how passionate Ray was about being part of a band again, I didn't want to take that away from him. Besides, I really didn't mind.

Then Ray was gone and I was left in a big house all by myself. It wouldn't be long before the movers come by with my stuff from Chicago, just long enough for me to have shower and get dressed.

................................................................

"Just a second" I called, racing down the stairs. The movers had gotten here a little sooner than I expected. Luckily, I had put some clothes on, I just hadn't gotten round to drying my hair.

"Hi" I said, opening the door and being greeted by a large, burly man with a receding hairline.

"You Neela Rasgotra?" his gruff voice asked.

"Yes I am" I answered.

"Where'd you want us to put these boxes?" he asked, having been joined by a few more men.

"Anywhere in there will be fine" I pointed to the lounge.

It only took ten minutes for them to lug the fifteen large boxes into mine and Ray's home.

"Thanks" I said, as the movers left. I closed the door behind the last of them and walked into the lounge, contemplating where I should begin.

I had been unpacking for an hour now and I was still only three boxes down. Packing peanuts were strewn across the floor as well as some of my books and clothes. In the middle of this chaos was were I sat. I took some of my clothes upstairs. Upon opening the closet I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Ray had cleared some space for my stuff. He had even cleared a drawer on the dresser for me. I found all of this incredibly endearing and must remember to thank him later. After putting my clothes away I returned downstairs to tackle unpacking even more boxes!

I broke for some lunch around two in the afternoon. Whilst eating my cheese and pickle sandwich I sent a text to Ray 'Thinking about you, I miss you xx '

It only took a few minutes for Ray's response to come through ' I miss you too xxx'

I only had a couple more boxes to unpack, then I planned to go food shopping, having noticed when making my sandwich just how little food there actually was in the house.

I placed the last of my books on the bookshelf. Finally, I had finished unpacking. My next problem was going to be locating a grocery store. I could always call Ray and ask him where the shop was, but I didn't want to disturb him, as he was probably busy.

After looking in the phonebook I found a shop that shouldn't be too difficult for me to get to. I picked up my keys, including the one to the house that Ray had left for me before he went to work this morning and walked out to my rental car. As I opened the car door, it crossed my mind that I would have to buy a car as the rental had to go back next week. Ray and I couldn't really share a car, what with our different working patterns.

I pulled out of the driveway and began my journey to the store. It was already four in the afternoon. I hoped that I would be able to get back before Ray. I should probably get some beers in for the guys coming round tonight. What time would they be coming over? I wanted a bit of time alone with Ray beforehand.

......................................................................

I made my way up and down the different aisles picking up what we needed as I went. I had no problem remembering the foods that Ray enjoyed to eat. Ooh Nutella, I picked up a big jar, it was my favourite sandwich filling. Ray had never been fond of it, which explains why there was none in the house.

I paid for the groceries and was now loading up the car. Before long I was on my way back home. When I pulled up to the driveway I saw Ray's car, meaning he was already home. Damn it. I had taken a little longer then expected, probably due to my little detour on the way to the store.

I opened up the boot of the car and took out a few bags and began to make my way up to the front door. Ray must have heard me pull up as he had already come out. He took the bags off of me, placing a quick kiss on my cheek. "Hi, I wondered where you might have gone"

"Sorry, I planned to be home before you" I saw Ray smiling at my words, I could only presume it was bacause I had said the word home rather than back. "When did you get in?" I asked, having gone back to the car, picking up a few more bags.

"Only about ten minutes ago" he replied as we walked into the house.

"Am I going to get some time alone with you before the guys get here?" I asked.

"We 've got about an hour" he said, after quickly checking his watch. As Ray went back out to the car to pick up the last couple of bags, I started putting things away in the cupboards and refrigerator. I was just putting the Nutella away in the cupboard when I heard Ray come into the kitchen, placing the last couple of bags on the counter.

"I forgot how much you loved that stuff" he said, with a smirk.

Working together it took no time for everything to be put away.

"Thanks for going shopping" Ray said, pulling me into an embrace.

"Not a problem" I answered, moving my face close to his. He picked up on my cue and angled his face close to mine. Our lips met, brushing against one another tenderly. After a few soft, chaste kisses we began kissing more passionately, with open mouths. As he moved his tongue into my mouth I massaged it with my own. Ray broke for air and trailed several, little kisses along my collar bone.

"I should probably make us some dinner" I said, not really wanting to stop our impromptu kissing session. I was aware that the band would be coming by in just under forty minutes and thought it best if we ate before they got here.

"Actually, I've ordered some pizza for us and the guys. It won't be here until about seven, is that okay?"

"Oh, okay" I smiled, this meant we could continue with our kissing. We spent the next five minutes just kissing, I couldn't get enough of Ray's kisses. Out of all the men I had dated Ray was definitely the best kisser. I wondered what else he may be the best at!

"Maybe we should move this somewhere a little more comfortable" Ray suggested, pulling me over to the couch. He laid down and then pulled me down on top of him. Our mouths mashed against one other as our hands explored each others bodies. Ray smoothly grazed my thigh with his hand, my hands were just above his waist, tugging at the hem of his t-shirt. Whilst still kissing, Ray raised his body just enough for me to pull his shirt off. As he brought his arms back down he cupped my face with his hands. We fell back to a lying down position. I broke for air, moving my mouth down to Ray's newly exposed flesh. I lightly trailed kisses down his torso and began fumbling with his belt buckle when we heard a bang on the door.

"Shit" Ray said, pushing me off of him. "Sorry that'll be the guys, damn!" As he put his shirt back on he continued, "We'll pick this up later on" he planted a soft kiss on my lips.

After taking another moment to compose himself he went off to open the door.

Ray opened the door and three guys walked in, with their instruments. "Setting up in the usual place?" I heard someone ask.

"Umm yeah" Ray answered, sounding a little unsure.

They made their way into the lounge, "Ray, you didn't tell us you had company" one of them said.

"Yeah, guys this is Neela" Ray was standing behind me, his hands on my shoulders.

"Neela, this is the band, Chuck here is the drummer," he said pointing to someone who looked no older than twenty with chin length, jet-black hair. "This is Joe who plays keyboards" he pointed to a man with a bald head. Judging by how old he looked he was voluntarily bald. "And you remember Bret, right? Well he plays bass" he added before I could answer his question.

"Yeah, I remember Bret" I said, I thought back to the time I had almost slept with him. I had stopped things going any further explaining that he would be like a tiny band-aid. Just thinking about it now made me feel a little embarrassed and kind of uncomfortable.

"Hi Neela. What are you doing here?" Bret asked.

"I live here" I replied.

"Really?" he said, a little too eagerly for my liking.

"Yeah, Ray and I are dating now." I said pulling Ray's arms around me and tilting my head back in order to get a kiss from Ray. That should send a clear message to Bret that I wasn't interested.

"If you want we can always do this some other time" Chuck piped up, referring to the practice.

"No, I've got some things I need to do anyway Have a good time, save me some pizza" I said, before going upstairs to mine and Ray's room.

Once I was in the room I took out my laptop and began typing an e-mail to Abby. I told her all about my first few days here in Baton Rouge with Ray. I explained how this was the best decision I had ever made and how I wished that we hadn't lost all of that time due to my emotional baggage. By the time I hit send on the e-mail, Ray's band had set up judging by the sound travelling up the stairs. I recognized Ray's voice as the lead singer. They were really quite good. I had planned to pass the time by watching some TV but decided instead to go downstairs and see if I could watch.

I quietly slipped downstairs and sat down on the couch, hoping to go unnoticed. I hadn't wanted to disturb them. Of course Bret had seen me and announced my presence. " I thought you had stuff you were doing" everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at me.

"I thought I would come and watch you guys, if you don't mind that is?"

"Sure, that's fine" they said in unison. I noticed Ray had the biggest grin spread across his face, he must be happy that I was taking an interest in his music.

They started playing again, I found myself tapping my foot in time to the music. I was really enjoying listening to them. "What's that one called?" I asked.

"LA Water" Ray shouted. **(A/N No copyright infringement intended by using this song. Song belongs to Jonny Was, written by Shane West. I will upload a copy of the song to my profile so you can have a listen.)**

"It's really good" I added.

A little later on the delivery guy had arrived and we were all chowing down on Pepperoni Pizza, which was delicious. I brought in the beers, that I had purchased earlier on and passed them around.

The guys left just gone ten, Ray and I sat down to watch a movie. I got to choose what we watched this time. That's the only reason we were watching Gone With the Wind. Ray made a fuss about watching it but eventually gave in when I had promised him that it would be worth his while.

I was lying down, my head resting on Ray's lap. He was playing with my hair, twisting it around his fingers and then releasing it and starting the whole process over again.

It was only when we were sat like this I realized just how exhausted I was from all the unpacking I had done today. My eyelids became heavy and I was fighting to remain awake. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

**A/N Next chapter will be RPOV of the same day. Let me know what you think. Thanks :)**


	4. A New Start RPOV

**A/N I'm really sorry for how long it's taken to get this up. **

**Anyways here is RPOV for the last chapter. I tried to write it so that it's not repeating a lot of the same stuff, hope it comes across that way.**

**Don't own ER - Just messing with the characters**

**RPOV**

I woke up to see Neela staring at me. I still couldn't believe that she was really here, living with me. Last night we had been so tired that we just fell asleep in each others arms. It was the closest I had ever felt to a woman. This was about more than just a physical closeness, there was an emotional connection between the two of us.

I leant over to give Neela a good morning kiss, but she pulled away, clamping her hand over her mouth. I couldn't understand why she was pulling away. "What'd I do?" I asked, trying to hide the panic that I felt. Had she changed her mind about us?

"No it's not you" she began, looking sheepishly at me "It's just … morning breath" she finished, looking rather embarrassed.

I was so relieved and was only just able to suppress my laughter as I told her she was being silly. Before she had a chance to move away from me I caught her mouth with mine and kissed her lovingly.

"Hmm you taste like eggs" I grinned. As I pulled away I noticed that she was sad and heard her mutter something about being sorry. My humor had offended her. I reassured her by saying that I liked eggs (which was true).

As I sat, perched on the edge of the bed, putting my prosthetics on (something that had become a daily routine for me. Some mornings I forgot about the accident and jumped out of bed and was brought back to reality with a painful thud as I wound up on the floor.) Neela came up behind me, her hands caressing my chest.

"You know I love you,right?" It was more of a question than a statement. I felt her warm mouth on the side of my neck. I had waited so many years for her to say those three little words to me.

"Neela, you don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that. I love you too" I poured all the love I felt for her into the loving gaze I gave her. After one final kiss I disappeared into the bathroom and had a shower.

When I came out from the bathroom I smelt food. I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen. Neela was there, cooking a fry-up. "Mmm something smells good" I said, placing my arms around her waist, unable to go a second longer without touching her.

The food Neela had cooked for us was so delicious that it wasn't long before I had cleared my plate. When she came back and passed me my coffee, I pulled her down onto my lap. I couldn't seem to keep my hands off of her this morning and who could blame me, she radiated beauty. I was happy when she dragged her plate over, indicating that she wanted to be as close to me as I wanted to be to her.

As soon as Neela had finished eating, she turned her face towards me. We kissed gently before allowing it to become more passionate. As we momentarily broke from kissing Neela shifted in my lap so that she was now straddling me. It took all of my strength to pull away from her "Neela, I have to go to work" I explained, having seen the disappointment in her face. I really wish I didn't have to. I could sit here, kissing her all day long.

Before getting my car keys, I quickly jogged upstairs and cleared some space in my closet and a draw in my dresser so that Neela could put her clothes away, when the movers came round later on. I felt bad that I wasn't going to be here to help her unpack.

I went back down to the kitchen and placed a spare front door key on the counter before going over to Neela and kissing her on the cheek and telling her that I loved her. It felt just as good to say it as it did to hear it which I did a few minutes later. I had just gotten to the front door when I remembered that I had invited the band over tonight.

I quickly ran back and explained to Neela that the band was coming over, but I could cancel if she wanted me to. She told me that she had plans to send some e-mails tonight anyway so it was fine and that she didn't mind. Had she always been this great? I'm pretty sure that she had.

….....................................

I was at work within ten minutes. "Morning" I said, as I walked through the door.

"Morning" everyone said back to me.

"Someone seems particularly cheerful today. It wouldn't have anything to do with that girl who came by yesterday would it?" Hank asked me with a wink.

"Maybe" I said with a grin. I wasn't going into any details.

"Going to be like that are you?" he asked.

"Pretty much" I replied, with a small chuckle.

"Don't worry Hank. Ray here is going to get a grilling today at lunch" Tracy said, coming up to me and slapping me on my shoulder.

"Ow" I said, rubbing my shoulder.

"Oh, come on I barely touched you" she said.

"Yeah, well you're stronger then what you think" I replied.

We spent the next half hour setting the room up for the patients we had coming in today.

This morning I had a stroke victim, someone recovering from a motorcycle accident and a couple of amputees from the army. All my patients were regulars. I had been helping them with their rehabilitation for at the past two weeks if not longer.

It was another thing I enjoyed about what I was doing. We got to build up a repore with our patients as we saw them at least once a week. It was something that had rarely happened working in Emergency Medicine. Sure you got the frequent flyers, but it wasn't the same as this.

….................................

It was one o'clock which meant it was time for lunch. We all made our way to the cafeteria. We had just sat down when the questioning began.

"So, Ray tell us everything about the girl from yesterday?" Tracy asked.

"Tracy, give the poor guy a chance to eat at least" Aaron said.

"Thanks man" I said, taking a bite of my turkey club sandwich.

"Don't speak to soon. Once you've finished eating that thing we all expect an answer to Tracy's question."

They all began to chuckle away. There really was no way to get out of this. Why did I care so much, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops that the girl I had loved for the past four years had given everything up and moved to Baton Rouge for me.

I finished my sandwich slowly.

"Spill it" Tracy said, nudging me.

"The girl who dropped by yesterday was Neela"

"Not _the_ Neela" Aaron interjected.

Each time Neela had contacted me in some way I told all my colleagues what was going on in her life. It hadn't taken them long to figure out that I was in love with her.

"Yes_ the_ Neela" I confirmed, using his phrase.

"So how long is she in town for?" Hank asked, through a mouthful of burger.

"Actually she's taken a surgical attending position here at Lechatlier."

"Wow, so are you guys going to start dating now?"

"Actually I asked her to move in with me and she said yes. She's at home unpacking" I couldn't help grinning like a fool.

"The rate you're going at you'll be proposing to her tonight" Aaron joked.

"Yeah, laugh it up. I'm happy so sue me." We began making our way back to the rehab unit.

"In all seriousness we're really happy for you Ray. We know how much Neela means to you."

"Thanks guys"

…...........................

The afternoon had flown by. "Have a good weekend. See you guys Monday" I waved as I walked out the door.

I couldn't wait to get home to Neela. We would get just over an hour alone before the band came round for rehearsal. I was looking forward to spending the entire weekend alone with her. I was planning to show her some of the sights, wherever she wanted to go I would take her there.

Ten minutes later I pulled up. I was surprised that Neela's rental car wasn't anywhere to be seen. She must have popped out somewhere.

I made a call, ordering some pizza for later on. By the time I had finished I heard a car pull up outside. Assuming it was Neela I went to the front door. She had the trunk of the car open and was pulling out paper bags, she had obviously gone grocery shopping. I had meant to go last night, I knew there was no food in the house. I forgot due to all the excitement of Neela's arrival.

I took the bags off of her, placing a tender kiss on her cheek. Even though she didn't need to she explained that she hadn't planned on taking so long.

Whilst Neela began putting stuff away, I went out to bring in the last couple of bags from the car.

Ugh, she had brought some of that horrible Nutella stuff that she loved so much. How had she described it to me 'A delicious chocolate spread with a hint of hazelnut.' She had forced me to try some at one point, delicious isn't the word I would use for it.

Having put all the food away, I grabbed Neela in my arms, thanking her. Seems Neela was thinking the same thing I was. As she angled her face, I moved mine towards her and we began to kiss. The kiss was gentle to begin with until I couldn't take it any longer. I needed more, so I slipped my tongue into her already open mouth. She massaged my tongue with her own.

I became breathless, not wanting to lose her exotic taste I trailed feather-light kisses along her collarbone. I was completely in the moment and only just heard her say something about making dinner. I thought things were going well and that maybe we could move things along. I quickly explained that I had ordered some pizza.

We picked up from where we had left off. After five minutes of intense, passionate kissing I had to show Neela how much I wanted her at this moment.

"Maybe we should move this somewhere a little more comfortable" I suggested, pulling her to the couch. I laid down before pulling Neela down on top of me. My hands were all over her body, I had to touch every inch of her. I was surprised when I felt Neela tugging on the hem of my shirt. She wanted our relationship to progress to the next level as well. The thought of this set off a reaction in my body, my arousal increasing with each passing second.

Having removed my t-shirt Neela began kissing my chest, moving down to my lower body. Then her hand was playing with my belt. I had been waiting for this for so many years, I was having a hard time controlling myself. I wanted to flip her over and tear off her clothes and...A knock at the door interrupted my train of thought.

"Shit" It must be the guys. Talk about bad timing. I put my shirt back on and took a few minutes to calm myself. I could do with a cold shower about now!

I kissed Neela again promising to pick this up later on. The sexy smile she gave me was enough to set me off again, so that I had to take another minute to compose myself before going to the door and letting the guys in.

I introduced the guys to Neela and it had been going fine until I got to Bret. He had always had a thing for Neela and going by how excited he sounded when she explained that she lived here now he was still into her. He had told me that something had happened between the two of them one night, a long time ago. He hadn't elaborated on what had gone on between them, but I had gathered that it was most likely that they had almost hooked up.

Neela became uncomfortable around him and made it abundantly clear that me and her were together now. When she tilted her head back, towards me I knew what she wanted. How could I refuse. If she wanted to send a clear message to Bret that she wasn't interested I was more than happy to oblige and kiss her.

Soon after Neela went upstairs to our room and Bret came over to me.

"You are one lucky son of a bitch, Barnett" he said.

"I know. She's great, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is" I couldn't help but detect a hint of jealousy in him.

It didn't take us long to set up. We started warming up the instruments playing a few chords and strumming a bit.

Once we had warmed up we began playing one of our songs. It was all about the music for me, as I sang I closed my eyes, allowing the music to flow through me.

Because my eyes had been closed at the time I hadn't even noticed Neela come downstairs. It was only Bret's interruption that alerted me to her presence.

She asked if she could watch, we all agreed that she could. Neela had never taken such an interest in my music before. Her interest made me love her all the more. As we played this time I did it with a smile that reached my eyes. I didn't think it possible to be any happier than I was right now.

She even wanted to know what the song we had just played was called. After I told her the title she said that she thought it was really good, she stayed to watch the rest of the practice and then ate pizza with us.

After the guys went home we settled down to watch a movie. I had given in to her choice of Gone With the Wind only when she had promised that it would be worth my while. At least that's why Neela thought I had agreed to it. Honestly, I didn't mind what we watched and when I made a fuss I had only been teasing her.

She laid down, her head resting on my lap, I twisted her hair around my fingers, enjoying the soft, smooth silky texture against my skin.

She was obviously exhausted from her day and ten minutes later she was fast asleep. I carefully lifted her head up so that I could stand up and go to bed. I didn't have the heart to wake her up. After placing her head gently back on the couch I found a blanket and stretched it over her. Then I brushed my lips against hers, ever so softly before walking upstairs and going to sleep myself.

**A/N Feel free to let me know what you thought. What did you like, what didn't you like, what would you like to see more of? Thanks :)**


	5. Monkeying Around

**A/N Sorry for the time in between updates. As I explained before I am winging this story, whilst I have some ideas I am finding it a little difficult to come up with ideas at the mo. Enough from me, on with the show.**

**ER doesn't belong to me - just messing with the characters**

**NPOV**

I woke up the next morning, surprised to find that I was not in Ray's arms. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I took in my surroundings and realized that I had spent the night curled up on the couch.

"Morning sleepy head" Ray said, kissing my forehead and handing me a cup of coffee.

"Thanks" I smiled. "What time is it?" I asked taking a sip of my drink.

He flicked his wrist over and looked at his watch "Umm ten o'clock"

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I said, my voice still a little groggy, from having just woken up.

"I didn't want to disturb you. You've had a couple of busy days. Plus you look so cute when you're sleeping" he tickled my side.

"Ray" I said, rolling my eyes at him. He knew how ticklish I was.

"What?" he asked all mock innocence.

"You know what" I replied, placing my mug on the coffee table.

Big mistake!

Ray attacked me, tickling me all over. "Ahh, stop it" I laughed.

"Make me" he replied, with a devilish grin.

I squealed and squirmed, trying to get away from his fingers, all to no avail. Time to try a different approach. When his face came close to mine, I caught his mouth with mine, kissing him tenderly. His hands slowed, until they were just holding me, around my waist. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck, pulling him closer to me, thus deepening our kiss. Our mouths opened as the hunger for one another increased. Ray slipped his tongue into my mouth, I responded by massaging it with my own.

A few minutes later we broke apart, both a little breathless from the passionate kiss we had just shared.

"I've made us some breakfast" Ray said, walking towards the kitchen, me following him.

"Mmm smells good. What is it?" I asked, taking a seat.

"Eggs a la Ray" he smiled.

As we ate our breakfast we began to discuss our plans for the day. It was our first day together since I had arrived here in Baton Rouge two days ago.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Ray asked.

"Umm. I should probably start looking for a car. The rental's being picked up Tuesday." I explained.

"I'll take you to the dealer I got my car from, he gave me a great deal. That takes care of the morning, what do you want to do this afternoon?"

"I don't want to say, it's embarrassing. You're going to laugh at me."

"Babe, I wouldn't do that. Whatever you want to do, we'll do it."

"Okay, promise not to laugh?" I asked.

"Cross my heart" he said, tracing an x across his chest.

"I love zoos and would really like to visit Baton Rouge zoo"

Ray tried unsuccessfully to stifle his laughter.

"See, I knew you were going to laugh at me" I said crossly, picking up our plates and taking them over to the sink. As I ran the hot water into the bowl to clean the dishes, I felt Ray's arms snake around my waist and felt his hot breath on the back of my neck as he rested his head on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I didn't meant to laugh at you. The child in you is one of the things I love about you" I felt his moist lips against my heated skin. I turned off the tap and turned around to face him. We shared a moment just staring into each others eyes, before he brushed his lips against my mouth, gently kissing me.

"Why don't you go have a shower and get dressed, I'll finish up here" he offered.

"Okay" I smiled at him before walking out of the kitchen and upstairs to our bedroom.

I picked out my favourite pair of jeans and a cute little blouse before going to the bathroom to take my shower.

Thirty minutes later I was dressed and we were ready to go. "Shall we go then?" I asked, holding the door open.

"Yeah, let's go" Ray said, picking up his car keys and walking past me. After locking up I followed him and sat in the passenger seat. We pulled out of the driveway and made our way to Ray's guy who would apparently give me a great deal on a new car.

…...........................

"What about this one?" Ray shouted, a couple of cars down from where I was stood.

I walked towards the car he was looking at, it was a smooth, silver sedan. It was a couple of years old with 24,000 miles on the clock. "Yeah, it looks good"

"I can totally see you in this car" he said. "Get in" he opened the drivers side door for me. I slid inside, getting a feel for the car.

"Hi, can I help you?" A balding, man walked up to us. I quickly jumped out of the car, scared that I had done something wrong.

"We're looking at possibly buying this car" Ray did all the talking.

"Well I can tell you that you will be very happy with it. It's a good little runner. Want to take it for a test drive?" he asked.

"Sure" Ray replied for me.

I got back into the drivers seat, whilst the salesman sat down next to me and Ray took a seat in the back.

The car drove like a dream. When we got back to the car lot I put down a deposit. They would deliver the car to our house Monday evening, Ray would have to sign the paperwork when it arrived as I would be working my first shift as an attending at Lechatlier.

We popped back home for some lunch before heading back out to the zoo. I really was a big kid at heart, I was rather excited about what the afternoon held.

**RPOV**

It hadn't taken long for Neela to find a car. As soon as I laid eyes on the sedan I was able to picture her driving home to me after a hard day's work. After calling her over she had taken to it very quickly.

I found it adorable how she quickly jumped out of the drivers seat when the salesman came over to us.

We had come home to have a quick lunch before heading on out to the zoo this afternoon. I was surprised that when I had given Neela the option of going anywhere she wanted to go she had chosen something that normally kids want to do. It's like I told her after breakfast though, the child in her was one of the many things that I loved about her.

As we drove to the zoo it ran through my mind that I wouldn't have done this for just any girl. The zoo wasn't really my thing. I probably wouldn't have done it for anyone other than her. I would do anything for her, I loved her that much.

"We're here" I said, lightly shaking Neela, she had dozed off on the drive over.

"Oh, Right" she said, sitting straight up.

After getting out of the car, I walked over to her and took hold of her hand, our fingers entwined as we walked over to the zoo entrance.

We gently strolled around the zoo, it hadn't changed all that much from when I last came here as a twelve year old kid!

I spent my afternoon just staring at the beauty that was Neela. It was awesome that she could be so entranced just by looking at a couple of animals. I'm sure that she saw them in a different light to me. She pointed at one of the monkeys "Aw, look he's so cute"

"How do you know that it's a he?" I asked, smirking at her.

"I don't really, I just have a feeling"

"Okay" was all I said back to her, I'm sure that she caught the eye roll I gave her as I spoke.

I had never seen her look so happy. I can't put into words how it felt, knowing that her being so happy had something to do with me. I smiled.

"What? What are you smiling at?" she asked. It reminded me of when she asked me the same question back in Chicago when I had visited her at Halloween.

"Nothing" I replied.

"I wish you wouldn't do that" she said, giving me a quick kiss.

I was making the most of the time I had left with her before she began working. To say I was a little annoyed that she had been given a week of overnights to start with was the understatement of the century. It had really pissed me off when she told me what her hours were going to be. Not that I would ever say anything to her about it. It's not her fault that the stupid Chief of Surgery had given her such sucky working hours. If last night was anything to go by it was going to be weird sleeping in our bed alone, it felt cold without her laying next to me. I had missed the feel of her body pressed against my own. That was another thing that I was going to take advantage of over the next couple of nights. Just being able to lie close to her and be able to breath in her intoxicating scent. Judging by recent developments in our relationship we may be doing more in the bed than just sleeping!

I was deep in thought and hadn't noticed the time, it was almost six pm and the zoo would be closing soon. "We should probably make a move"

"Sorry, I know you must really hate this, but I appreciate you bringing me here" she turned to face me, standing up on her tiptoes and tenderly kissing me on the lips. Conscious of where we were and that there were kids around I unwillingly broke off the kiss, although I really didn't want to.

"Well, I was saying we had better go because the zoo's closing, but you're right I don't really see what's so great about a zoo. That doesn't matter though, what matters is that we're here together, that's all I care about" I caught her smiling after hearing what I had to say.

Once we got home I made a start on dinner.

"You know, one day you're going to have to let me cook" Neela shouted from the couch.

"Don't worry I'll put you to work soon enough" I replied from the kitchen.

"I see. It's like that is it? You think just because I'm here now that I'm going to do anything you want" we slipped back into our usual banter.

As we sat down to eat the phone rang. "Hey" I said, picking up the phone and answering it.

"Hi Ray"

"Tracy, this is a surprise. Why are you calling me?" Neela looked at me inquisitively, probably worried about who Tracy was. I mouthed 'work' to her, which seemed to put her mind to rest and she returned to eating her dinner.

"Just thought you might like a heads up. We're in clinic for one more day and then Tuesday their transferring us to working on the wards."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know" After saying bye I replaced the phone in it's cradle and sat back down at the table.

"What was that all about?" Neela asked.

"She was just letting me know that from Tuesday we were going to be rotated to working on the wards." After about three months all PM&R residents are rotated, those who have been working in clinic go out to the wards and vice versa. I enjoyed the change of pace that the rotation gave us.

"How long a rotation do you have working on the wards."

"Normally about three months"

"So I guess you might be working on the surgical wards at some point" she said hopefully.

"Possibly" I said smiling, knowing what she was getting at. "Which means when you're on days I might see you if I'm working on your ward"

"Cool" she said, taking one final bite of her dinner.

"Yeah, it will be cool, might have a chance to spend more than five minutes with you" I said, before leaning down and mashing my mouth against hers. I felt her warm arms wrap around the back of my neck, pulling me closer to her. The kiss deepened and I was lost in the moment. My hands began creeping up her shirt, they glided across her abdomen before coming to a rest just underneath her supple breasts.

I broke away from the kiss, rather breathless to make sure that Neela was comfortable with what I was about to do. "Just do it Ray" she moaned, bringing her mouth back to mine. I gently began to massage her breasts in my hands, rubbing my thumb across her peaks. I felt as well as heard her reaction, she moaned into my mouth as her nipples hardened under my touch.

Her hand moved from the back of my neck, across my chest, down my stomach. I panted into her mouth as I became increasingly aroused.

There was a knock at the front door. "Ignore it" I said, against her lips.

This time when there was a knock I heard my Mom "Ray, are you in there Hun?"

"Damn" I said, releasing my hold on Neela.

"Can't we just pretend we didn't hear her?" Neela suggested, placing her hand on the bulge,that had my jeans feeling tighter than usual.

"No" I replied huskily, "she has a key" I elaborated. "And what you're doing right now isn't helping me calm down" I said, casting my eye down to where her hand was resting.

I heard the key turn in the lock and the door open...

**A/N Hope it was worth the wait. As always let me know what you thought or if you have any ideas of what you would like to see happen between Ray and Neela. Thanks :)**


	6. The Long Wait is Over

**A/N Warning this earns the M Rating. **

**Don't own ER just playing with the characters.**

**The Long Wait is Over **

**NPOV**

Why did people keep interrupting us whenever we started to get intimate? We couldn't seem to catch a break when it came to the sex stuff. I removed my hand from Ray's crotch, I walked over to the kitchen sink to splash some water on myself, to calm me down.

"What are you going to do? You can't let your Mum see you like that" I said quickly, looking down at his lower body.

"Quick, stand in front of me" he grasped my shoulders and pushed me in front of himself so that I could act as a shield.

The door opened and Ray's Mum walked into the house.

"Oh" she jumped. "Sorry, you startled me, I thought you weren't in"

"Hi Mom" Ray said sweetly.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

I felt Ray's body shake behind me as he let out a barely audible chuckle. I had to bite down on my lip to keep myself from laughing. I guess you had to laugh about the situation, otherwise you would cry.

"No, Mrs Barnett" I replied smoothly.

"Neela, isn't it?" I nodded in acknowledgement. "Please call me Jacy honey."

"Okay Jacy. Would you like something to drink?" I asked politely.

"I'll have a coffee, but only if you guys are having one" she replied.

"Umm. I'm going to go help Neela, why don't you take a seat in the lounge Mom, make yourself at home and we'll be back in a few minutes" he said in an upbeat tone.

Jacy headed to the lounge as we made our way over to the kettle. "What's that all about?"

"What?"

"Why didn't you go with your Mum?" I asked, taking three cups out of the cupboard.

"Still kinda got a situation going on down here"

"Oh" I said, with a slight chuckle. I filled the kettle with water and then switched it on.

"Anything I can do to help, with your situation?"

"As if you haven't already done enough" he said, pouting. "No, I'm alright now. Thanks"

"Ehm, do I detect a hint of sarcasm in your voice Dr Barnett?" I asked in a dead pan tone.

"I love it when you call me Doctor?" he said with a cocky smile. Then he planted a wet, sloppy kiss on my mouth.

"Ugh, Ray" I cringed. "If you want anything to happen tonight you need to improve on that" I smirked.

The drinks were ready, Ray helped me carry them out into the lounge.

"Thanks Hun" Jacy said to Ray after he handed her the cup. She blew on it before taking a sip. "It's nice of you to come visit Ray dear"

"Actually Mom, Neela's living with me again" he beamed.

"When did this happen?" she said, with a smile on her face.

"A few days ago" I replied, taking hold of Ray's hand.

"Typical son. Doesn't tell his Mother anything. I'm so happy for you guys" Ray must tell his Mum something because I doubt she would be so happy otherwise. I had only met her once, it was very brief and was at the hospital after Ray's accident. I got the impression that she didn't really like me.

"So, Neela does this mean you're working here now? You're in surgery?" The last statement came across more as a question.

"Yes. I'll be working at Lechatlier in the surgical department. I just accepted a surgical attending spot here."

"Why did you choose to come work here? Ray's told me how gifted a surgeon you are, I would of thought you would have had your pick of hospitals."

I opened my mouth to begin my reply but Ray got there first. "God Mom, enough of twenty questions already. Why are you here anyway?"

"Can't a Mother come to visit her son without needing a reason?"

"Yes, but most of them don't come around at ten o'clock at night!"

"Is it really that late?" she glanced down at her wrist watch. "Goodness, I should probably be on my

way home, sorry Hun I didn't realize what the time was" she gulped down the last of her coffee, before hastily getting up from the armchair she was sat in. "Thanks for the coffee" she said and then gave each of us a kiss on the cheek before waving bye and leaving.

"That was close" Ray said as soon as he closed the door.

"You could have been a little less rude" I said, thinking that he had been a little off with his Mum.

"It's like I told you back in October she just doesn't get it sometimes. She mollycoddles me, she probably came round to make sure I wasn't suicidal again" he joked.

"Ray, she just cares about you"

"I know. It's just I get a little annoyed with it all sometimes"

"I'm beat" he yawned "I'm going to bed, want to join me?" he asked suggestively.

"Sure, I'll be up in a couple of minutes" I gave him one quick kiss on the lips.

As Ray slowly made his way up the stairs I went to the sink and rinsed the cups out. I took a deep breath. This was really it, Ray and I were going to make love tonight. Suddenly I found myself becoming very nervous. This was a big deal, we had waited five years for this to happen. I panicked, would I live up to his expectations? Would he live up to mine? Would we both be disappointed? Would there be an awkwardness because of his condition? Could this ruin everything between us?

I had to go upstairs, if I stayed down here I would talk myself out of doing something I really wanted to do.

I switched off the lights before walking upstairs. When I walked into our bedroom Ray was already in bed but still awake. It became apparent very quickly that he had been waiting for me whilst I had been having a minor meltdown downstairs.

"Hey Roomie, saved you a spot" he smiled. He turned back a corner of the duvet and patted the bed alongside him.

"Just a second" I replied, I removed my jeans and blouse so that I was left wearing only my underwear. I know this sounds stupid but I wasn't ready to be totally naked in front of him yet, I needed a little more time.

I swiftly made my way over to the bed and lay down where he had patted his hand just moments before.

"Hey" he said with a husky voice.

"Hi" I replied.

Then he edged closer to me. He lifted my chin up with his finger and brought his lips crashing down to mine. He kissed me hard, his arms encircling me, we rolled to the side so that I was now laying on top of him. His hands slowly creeped up my back until he was unclasping and then removing my bra, my heart was racing. "Ray" I said, breaking away from the kiss.

He didn't respond except for kissing along the hollow of my collarbone.

"Ray" I repeated a little louder.

"What?" he replied, bringing his mouth back to mine and giving me a few quick kisses.

"Can...can we talk first" I stammered, I hated myself for doing this to him again, getting him all hot and bothered and then taking everything away.

He gently rolled me over, before sliding himself up the bed so that he was resting his head and neck against the headboard. "So what do you want to talk about?" he asked.

I smiled at him. This is why he was so good for me. Any other guy would get really annoyed with what I had asked of him, not Ray though he stopped everything and gave me what I asked for without complaint.

"It's just I'm kinda feeling a lot of pressure." I said, quickly.

"Why?"

"Because it's you and it's me. We've been waiting for this for a long time. What if we've built this up to be such a big thing that it can't possibly live up to our expectations.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem" he replied before stretching over and kissing me. I melted into the kiss. As the kiss continued and grew more passionate I found myself relaxing more and more. That's the effect Ray Barnett had on me. He had always been able to calm me down.

"Nothing has to happen tonight. It's up to you. We'll go at your pace, okay?" he asked, giving me a reassuring look.

"Words can't express how much I love you right now" I said.

With that a surge of confidence ran through me. I quickly removed the rest of my underwear before climbing over and straddling him.

He looked up at me and smiled "God you're beautiful"

I removed the boxers he was wearing in one fluid motion. As I took them off I lovingly caressed his amputation stumps to reassure him that I was not freaked out by the loss of his lower limbs and that none of that mattered to me.

I wrapped my hand around his manhood and began to pump up and down. I heard him starting to pant. I brought my mouth back down to his and kissed him passionately. His lips parted and I slid my tongue into his mouth.

"Neela" he moaned against my lips.

I tore my lips away from his and then slid down onto him. A wave of pleasure crashing through my body as he entered me. I looked down at him and saw him close his eyes as he folded his bottom lip in. Then I began bucking my hips up and down as Ray met me with his thrusts. His hands roamed along my body until he cupped my breasts, rolling them around in his hands, gently squeezing my already erect nipples.

When I looked back down at Ray I could tell by his face that he was almost there. "Raaaaaay" I groaned as ecstasy overtook me. A few thrusts later and Ray let go, screaming my name in the throes of our passion "Neeeela"

I pulled myself off of him before collapsing on my side of the bed. We had both worked up quite a sweat. I don't know what I had been so worried about earlier. The past ten minutes had been the most pleasurable of my life. So far! Ray was just as good at this as he was with the kissing.

He caught hold of my face and turned it so that I was facing him "I love you" he said, before kissing me.

"I love you too. I don't know what Katy was talking about, you move your hips" I smiled.

"What?" He nervously chuckled. "She told you about that?" he asked.

"Yeah. Back when she was talking to me, before the..." I trailed off, I didn't want to bring back that particular painful memory.

"Before the accident. It's okay Neela, you can talk about it."

"Why Dr. Barnett, you wouldn't be blushing would you?"

"No" he laughed.

"Yes you are" I said pointing at him.

"Right, your dead" he grabbed hold of my waist and started tickling me.

"Ahh Ray." I squealed, trying to wriggle out of his hold on me. "Ray, stop it" I laughed.

"Are you going to be good?" he asked, sexily.

"Yes" I replied, and he stopped his attack and pulled my body close to his.

I fell asleep, my head on his chest, his arm around me holding me close to him.

**A/N Hope you liked this chapter. Next one will be RPOV picking up where NPOV leaves off. As always let me know what you thought. Thanks :) **


	7. Domestic Bliss

**A/N** **Big Shout out to my friend for her help with what treatment would be given for a sports injury. Thank you. Earn the M rating again here. Anyway on with the story.**

**Don't own ER - Just messing with the characters.**

**Domestic Bliss.**

**RPOV**

I woke up Sunday morning feeling like I was the luckiest the guy in the world. I had everything I could ever ask for, it hadn't been easy but I had made it. I had a house, a great job and the love of a beautiful woman. I stretched my arm across the bed searching for Neela, but she wasn't there.

Did she feel the same way I did? Was she just as happy as I was? She had certainly seemed happy with me. I had never seen her as confident as she was with me last night. I was glad that she felt comfortable enough around me to talk and tell me about her fears before we consummated our relationship. It shows the trust that we have for each other. The trust had developed between us in out friendship and had grown since we had begun to explore the new territory of being in a relationship.

I ran over the events of last night and found myself needing a cold shower!

I went downstairs to find Neela in the living room, she was wearing a pair of gray sweats with a white tank top. She had tied her hair back. She stood on one leg, the other leg bent towards it and her hands clasped together, stretched above her head. The TV was on and Neela appeared to be copying what was being shown on screen.

"What the hell are you doing?" I chuckled.

She exhaled a deep breath before answering "Yoga"

"Since when do you do yoga?"

"Since Lucien introduced me to it"

"Well done. Your balance is excellent" the woman on screen said.

"Who's that?" I asked, pointing towards the screen.

"That's my personal trainer" she replied, before pressing some buttons and moving onto the next pose.

"Whatever you say sweetie" I said, moving closer to her and kissing her forehead.

"Ray, I can't concentrate" she shouted at me.

"Whoa, sorry" I stepped back, raising my arms in surrender. "What is all this stuff anyway?" I said pointing to the kit laid out on the floor.

"It's my Wii fit. You must know about the Nintendo Wii with all the injuries that have been caused by using it."

"No. What kind of injuries?" I pressed her for more information.

"I was talking to someone last week. He said that people were coming in with torn ligaments because they had put their hand through lights up on the ceiling, having gotten a little carried away with the game."

"Well I haven't come across any patients with those kinds of problems." I replied, then I walked out to the kitchen to make my morning cup of coffee. "Do you want a coffee?" I called out to her.

"No, can I have a water"

"Sure"

"Thanks"

"You're welcome" I smiled, shaking my head as once again I realized just how lucky I was to have Neela in my life again.

"What are you smiling at this time?" she asked, grabbing the glass of water off of the counter.

"Nothing" I said.

"Humph, you're doing it again"

"Doing what"

"That thing you do. Where I ask you what you're thinking about and you just go nothing."

Before she had a chance to say anything more I quickly moved my mouth down to hers, brushing my lips across hers.

"Mmm, Ray" she said the words against my lips.

"Yes" I said, as I removed my mouth from hers and began nibbling on her earlobe.

"I want to know what you were thinking just now"

I gave in to her, I whispered the words into her ear "I was just thinking how great you are and how lucky I am to have you in my life" I pulled my head back just far enough to gauge her reaction. She was positively glowing, her smile reaching her eyes.

We kissed again, only this time the kiss was more passionate, our tongues locked in a battle for dominance. Neela's arms locked around my neck, pulling me closer to her hot body. My hands had been cupping her face, but were now gliding down the side of her body, until I had a firm grasp on her butt. She hoisted herself up so that her legs were wrapped around my waist. I tore my lips from hers, coming away a little breathless. Neela placed her warm mouth on my neck and trailed little kisses across it. I didn't know how much longer I would be able to hold out. "I want you Ray" she whispered seductively into my ear.

That's it, I'm done for now. I let her slide down my body until her feet were on the floor. I sucked on her bottom lip and my hands explored her body as we made our way over to the couch. We helped each other undress.

We collapsed on the couch, locked in an embrace, fuelled by our passion for one another. Neela carefully removed my prosthetics and delicately placed them on the floor, to the side of the couch. Just as she had done last night, she moved her hands along my amputation stumps tenderly, showing how deeply she cared for me. She must know that the loss of my legs below the knee was my biggest insecurity. I had been intimate with a couple of girls since my accident but none of them had been as thoughtful as Neela was, in fact my stumps had seemed to be a bit of a turn off for them.

I twisted myself so that I could lay down on the couch, Neela bringing herself with me. I placed my hand on her left cheek and rubbed my thumb across it lovingly "I love you so much, so much more than I thought I could love anyone. I'm so grateful that you're back in my life" I said softly to her.

She moved her face a fraction of an inch so that she could kiss the palm of my hand.

"I love you too, Ray."

I guided myself into her and began bucking my hips, thrusting in and out of her. She lightly scratched her fingernails down my chest, sending a new wave of pleasure coursing through my body. My eyes rolled back in my head as I was overcome by the sensation of truly being with Neela. Soon after, Neela's mouth puckered as she rode out her own pleasure, before collapsing on top of me. "That was amazing" she said to me.

"It's only amazing because it's me and you" I replied sweetly, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. As we lay there together we began to discuss what we might do this afternoon.

"I know what we can do. I just got Guitar Hero World Tour for the Wii. I haven't had a chance to use it yet. What do you think?"

"Isn't that a little unfair on you. I am a musician in case you've forgotten"

She sat up "You afraid of the competition?" she asked, rolling her eyes at me.

"Bring it on" I said.

Ten minutes later we had gotten dressed and were set, ready to play the game. I had chosen to play the guitar for obvious reasons and Neela was playing the drums. Neela picked Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze to play along to. This was going to be a no brainer for me, it was one of the first songs I had learned to play.

The game began and I was all over the place getting lost with what buttons I was supposed to be hitting and when I should be pressing them. I only just made it though to the end of the song, scoring only sixty percent.

"Oh yes" Neela said with glee as her score was showing at ninety one percent. "And you call yourself a rock star" she said, glancing over to my crestfallen face.

"Give me a real guitar anyday. I thought you said you hadn't played this"

"I haven't"

"So how come you're so good at it?" I enquired.

"I perform laparoscopic surgery so I have good hand, eye coordination I guess or maybe I'm just a natural. If you need a new band member I might just let you use me" she said playfully.

"Sorry you're good but you're not that good" I joked, earning a slap on the shoulder for my troubles.

…............................................

It was Monday morning. The weekend had come and gone, far too quickly in my opinion. Neela and I would be passing ships for the next week or so, whilst I worked in the day and she pulled night shifts. If we were lucky we might get a couple of hours to spend together each day, no where near enough time in my book.

I left Neela asleep in bed, not wanting to wake her. I placed a tender kiss on her forehead and whispered "Bye" before I left the house.

I walked in to work and was quickly greeted by Tracy. "Ray, you've got a new guy up first today, here's his chart" she thrust the paperwork into my hands.

I quickly walked over to where the patient had already been set up, "Hey man, I'm Ray Barnett" I offered my hand for him to shake.

"Chris Baker" he replied, taking my hand.

I flipped through his chart. He had an acute strain to the lateral collateral ligament of his knee, he had obtained the injury two days ago, whilst playing soccer. He had come in to the ER and they had referred him to us.

"So it says here you've got a knee injury."

"Yeah, that's right I got it playing soccer Saturday afternoon."

"Let's see what I can do to help"

I got him to lie down. "Let me know if the pain becomes unbearable" I said. I started by massaging around the knee joint before moving my hands to work on his quadriceps, hamstrings and calf. "What I'm doing at the moment will loosen your muscles and reduce the swelling" I explained.

Once I had loosened up his muscles I massaged the ligament itself. I finished up by using a mixture of ultrasound and laser therapy to aid in the healing of tissue and hopefully it would give Chris some pain relief.

The session ended with me advising him to rest up but make sure that he avoided immobility. I also gave him a few walking practices to work on.

"Thanks" he said as he went to leave.

"You're welcome" I said, with a smile. Another satisfied customer I thought.

The afternoon was spent tending to a few of our regulars and then getting our paperwork together, ready to hand over to the next rotation tomorrow.

Before I knew it, it was five o'clock and time to go home. This was going to be both the best and the worst part of my day, going home to Neela. I was looking forward to spending some time with her but at the same time upset that we wouldn't have long before she would be on her way out and off to work. Her first shift as a surgical attending and her first shift working in a new hospital. I was still in awe of how brave she had been, giving her life up and starting over, all for me. I must be blessed.

I pulled up in the driveway and made my way inside, "Neela" I called, upon entering the house.

**A/N Will put up a link on my profile for Jimi Hendrix song. If you want me to explain any of the medical stuff just PM me and I'll be happy to give you an explanation. Are you happy with where the story is going? Is there something you want to see happen? Did you enjoy this chapter. Let me know. Thanks :)**


	8. Night from Hell

**A/N Warning this chapter will feature a lot of medical terminology but I will put an explanation at the end for you. This is NPOV for her first shift at Lechatlier. I hope you like it. **

**I don't own ER just playing with the characters. **

**Night From Hell.**

**NPOV**

"Neela" he called, as he stepped into the house.

"I'm in here Ray" I answered from the kitchen.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked as he walked into the room, kissing me on the cheek.

"Cooking dinner, well dinner for you more like breakfast for me" I replied, adding some salt to the stir fry.

"Mmm can I have a quick taste?" Ray asked, taking a spoon from the drawer and walking back to me. "Ow" he said,with a shocked expression, removing the hand that I had just smacked. "What was that for?"

"No tasting until it's ready. Make yourself useful by laying the table"

"Okay, when do you think dinner will be ready?" He got some cutlery from the drawer before walking over to the dining table.

"Um about another five minutes"

Ten minutes later I had served up the stir fry and we were sat at the table eating. "How was your day?" I asked before shovelling another mouthful of food into my mouth.

"Yeah, it was pretty decent actually. I managed to get everything sorted before rotating onto working on the wards tomorrow. Are you nervous about tonight?"

"A bit. Can you believe that their going to let me operate on my own? I'm not going to have a safety net. I feel sorry for the patients." I said seriously.

"Neela, you're an excellent surgeon. If I needed surgery I would want you to be my surgeon." I was completely floored by what he had just said.

"Do you really mean that?"

He laughed before answering "Of course I do" then he picked up our empty plates and walked over to the kitchen sink. "I'll clean up, why don't you go watch some TV or something and I'll come join you when I'm done"

"Okay, thanks" I walked up behind him and gave him a quick kiss, then disappeared into the living room.

Unfortunately too soon it was time for me to go. I wished more than anything that I could just stay here watching TV, cuddled up with Ray on the couch. "Gotta go" I said, brushing my lips across his gently.

"Nope" He kissed me again "I'm not letting you out of my sight" He wrapped his strong arms around me as he kissed me more passionately.

"Ray"

"I can't hear you" he said as he alternated between nipping and licking the side of my neck.

He wasn't going to make this easy on me! "Ray, I would much rather stay here with you, but it is my first day, well night and I don't want to start off on the wrong foot"

"Okay" he finally relented.

I brought my lips back to his one final time "Love you" I whispered before getting up, collecting my keys and walking towards the door. "Ray" I shouted.

"Yeah" he replied.

"Don't forget my car's being delivered tonight"

"Okay I'll see you tomorrow morning. Love you"

With that I walked out the door over to my rental and began my drive to the hospital where my new job awaited me.

I walked into the hospital with apprehension. Would I make friends like the ones I had back in Chicago? Would people like me? How would people take to my management style? I was freaking myself out again and I hadn't even got up to the surgical floor yet! Why had I always been so scared of making a mistake? To the point that some times I sacrificed my own happiness because of my fears.

I met a few of my colleagues as we ran rounds so that the day shift could go home. I'm sure soon enough I would be working with some of the people who were on their way home now.

After finishing rounds I had planned to go around the team formally introducing myself. It felt weird that I was now the boss of the residents as well as the interns. I can do this I reminded myself before inhaling a deep breath and then slowly releasing it. I felt slightly better. Unfortunately my plans were put on hold when I was paged down to the ER.

I walked into the Trauma Room. "What have we got?" I asked, momentarily forgetting where I was.

"And you would be?" A young, slim man with short, dark brown hair asked.

"Sorry, I'm Dr. Rasgotra, new surgical attending. You paged me down here" I continued in a professional manner.

"56 year old female. Complains of severe abdominal pain. On exam she is in septic shock, hypotensive and has renal impairment. She also has an abdominal fistula that is draining yellow, serous fluid and has widespread oedematous erythema."

"Any medical history?" I asked as I began to make my own assessment.

He picked up her chart and flicked through a couple of pages, "Um, yeah she had a subtotal gastrectomy and formation of a gastrojejunostomy for a GIST last year. Came back a few months later with a duodenal stump leak"

"Okay" I said, considering the options. "I think she may be a surgical case, but first I want a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis with contrast"

"I don't want no surgery. You people have done enough damage already" the lady said, having become agitated.

"Bit of a feisty one dear, aren't you?" the guy who was running the case said.

"Go away. I don't like you" she said, pointing her finger at him.

"Let's take her down to CT" I said, grabbing hold of the gurney to begin wheeling her to radiology.

After scanning the patient, I spoke to the radiologist who told me that there was no radiological evidence to suggest a recurrence of the previous leak and he was unable to identify any intra-abdominal collection.

She was definitely going to need exploratory surgery to discover what was going on. "Right, I'm admitting her to the surgical service." I explained to the ER doc.

I quickly glanced down at the patient's chart. "Mrs Ward, you're going to need surgery. So I'm going to take you upstairs and explain the surgery and the risks that accompany it"

"Were you not listening earlier or are you just stupid? I said no more surgery" This was going to be a long night, trying to convince the patient to sign the consent form.

"This is to help you, I'll explain more once we're upstairs" I said calmly.

"I don't like your attitude. Let me speak to the person in charge."

"I am in charge Mrs Ward" It felt strange to say it, but it was the truth I was an attending now and therefore my own boss.

Once getting Mrs Ward settled I explained in depth what I would do in the OR and the complications that could arise and eventually got her to sign off on the surgery.

After scrubbing I made my way into the OR. I was about to begin my first surgery as an attending in a new hospital.

I made the first incision, as I explored the abdomen it become obvious to me that this poor lady had a bad case of necrotizing fascitis. I debrided the necrotic tissue and took a biopsy to be sent to the pathology lab for confirmation on the diagnosis. I could have further debrided the wound but it would be inappropriate due to the extend of the spread of necrosis. I closed the wound and Mrs Ward was transferred to the SICU for recovery. I ordered an IV of co-amoxiclav and clindamycin. I just hoped that the antibiotics would be enough to aid in her recovery.

Whilst in the SICU I inserted a PICC line so that TPN could be administered to Mrs Ward. Even though she hadn't been the nicest of people to me I did feel sorry for her. She would probably be in hospital for at least a couple of weeks and would require some rehabilitation in order to get back on her feet. I left her in the capable hands of the nurses who would do fifteen minute obs.

For most surgical attending's their first solo surgery is a simple appendicectomy. Why couldn't I of had something like that? Then I wouldn't feel so drained. It was already four am, I only had another three hours and then I would be going home. Because I was still getting used to the change in my daily routine I felt rather tired, I went to the on call room to take a quick nap.

I should have known that it was wishful thinking that I would actually get any sleep. Five minutes after going into the room I heard a knock on the door, followed by a young woman's voice. "Dr Rasgotra, they need you down in the ER"

"Okay, I'll be right there" I replied groggily, rubbing my eyes in a vain attempt to get over my tiredness.

I had gone downstairs and had to take another patient to the OR , this time it was a simple appendicectomy. That's more like it I thought.

I spent the last hour of my shift doing charts.

"You should change that to emergency appendicectomy, otherwise the clinical coders will be on your back about not providing adequate information."

"Thanks" I said, amending my note.

"I'm Jo by the way" she said offering her hand.

"Neela" I replied shaking her hand.

"I wanted to be a Doctor not an admin clerk" she said, having taken a seat and working on some of her own charts.

"Yeah, I thought we were here to treat patients, not do paperwork" I joked.

"I know. This is the worst part of my shift, writing up all my notes."

"Me too" I nodded in agreement.

Before I knew it we were running rounds again and then I was driving back home.

I opened the front door slowly not wanting to wake Ray.

"Morning" he said, kissing me having pulled the door all the way open.

"Morning. I didn't expect you to be up" I replied, shocked that he was awake already.

"Had to make my girl her dinner" he said, switching the word breakfast for dinner, as I was coming home from work and would be going to bed after eating. He really was perfect. Even back when we were just friends he had always willingly cooked for me. What did I do to deserve him?

"So, how'd it go? He asked. Having eaten we were now sat down on the couch. Ray's arm was round my shoulders and my head was resting against his chest, my arm wrapped around his waist.

"I'm exhausted, I've been on my feet almost all night. Oh and there was this one patient who was a real piece of work. She called me stupid." I frowned.

"Aw poor baby, here give me your foot and tell me all about it" He grabbed hold of my left foot and began to massage it.

**Medical Terminology:**

**Septic shock is a serious medical condition caused by decreased tissue perfusion and oxygen delivery as a result of infection and sepsis. **

**Hypotensive = low blood pressure**

**Fistula = abnormal connection or passageway between vessels that do not normally connect**

**Serous = pale yellow, transparent fluid**

**oedematous erythema = redness of the skin**

**subtotal gastrectomy = partial removal of the stomach **

**gastrojejunostomy = The surgical formation of a direct communication between the stomach and the jejunum**

**GIST = Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumour**

**Necrotizing Fascitis =****Necrotizing fasciitis** (**NF**), commonly known as **flesh-eating disease** or **flesh-eating bacteria**, is a rare infection of the deeper layers of skin and subcutaneous tissues, easily spreading across the fascial plane within the subcutaneous tissue

**Debridement = Removal of necrotic (dead) tissue.**

**SICU = Surgical Intensive Care Unit**

**PICC = Percutaneous insertion of central catheter**

**TPN = Total Parenteral Nutrition**

**Obs = Observations**

**I think that covers it all. If there is anything you don't undersatnd just PM me and I'll try my best to answer your query. As always let me know what you think of this chapter. For those of you who have missed Ray in this chapter next one will be a RPOV. Thanks for your continued support :)**


	9. Day from Hell

**A/N Sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoy. **

**I don't own ER just playing with the characters.**

**Day From Hell.**

**RPOV**

"Aw poor baby, here give me your foot and tell me all about it" I took her foot in my hand and applied gentle pressure as I massaged it.

"She came into the ER in septic shock with severe abdo pain. When I mentioned that she needed surgery she said that she didn't want it, we'd already done enough damage. Anyway I sent her to CT and they weren't able to find anything obvious to explain her pain. I told her that I had to do the surgery, that's when she told me that I was stupid. Then get this she said she wanted to speak to the person in charge of me because she didn't like my attitude. She thought I was the one with the attitude problem."

During the time that Neela was venting about her difficult patient I had picked up her right foot and started massaging it. "Did you ever get her into the OR?" I asked.

"Yeah eventually. It turned out that she had a bad case of necrotizing fascitis. She's probably going to be on the surgical service for a while. I'll probably have the joy of seeing her again tonight."

"Well she might be different. Maybe she was just having a bad day yesterday"

"Somehow I doubt it"

"It could happen" I replied optimistically.

"Yeah and pigs can fly" Neela said sarcastically.

I bent my head down and brushed my lips over hers, kissing her gently. "Feel better?" I asked.

"No, not yet" she replied, grabbing hold of my shirt and pulling my mouth back down to hers. The kiss was tender to begin with, then Neela traced her tongue along my bottom lip and I parted my mouth. Our tongues were locked in a battle for dominance. She shifted her position so that she was straddling me. My hands were under her top fondling her breast. I tore my lips away from hers needing air. My mouth began to gently graze the soft skin of her collar bone, tasting her. Neela's hands began to wander down my body. My body was beginning to respond to her gentle touch.

It took all my will power to pull myself away from Neela. "I gotta go to work"

"Okay" she groaned. I kissed her one final time before getting up from the couch and leaving.

"See ya tonight" I shouted back, glancing behind me. Neela was already making her way upstairs to bed.

"Yeah, see you later" she yawned. She really was exhausted.

The first thing to happen when I got to work was that the nursing staff gave us a hand-over of what had gone on with the patient' last night. In the meeting with us and the nursing staff there was someone from OT and a social worker. During this meeting we discussed the patients and prioritised them in order of who would need more assistance throughout the day.

Aaron and I managed to treat a couple of patients before going on a ward round with the attending and picking up some new referrals.

It was time for a coffee break. We walked into the staff room and I poured us each a cup of coffee. "So how are things going with the beautiful Dr. Rasgotra?"

"How do you know she's beautiful? You haven't even met her" I said, biting into a cookie.

"So you don't think she's beautiful?" he looked puzzled.

"No, no. I mean yes of course she's beautiful I'm just wondering how you know that seeing as you've never met her?"

"Wild guess. Now that you mention it I think it's about time we met Neela"

Sure I wanted Neela to meet my colleagues but at the same time I wasn't ready to share her yet. I wanted to keep her all to myself. "Well, she's working nights at the moment so maybe some other time"

"You never answered my question about how things were going"

Coffee Break was over. "Things are going great" I smiled.

Up until lunch time we worked as a two-person team dealing with priority patients that required the help of two therapists to get them up and moving. The afternoon was spent seeing any patients that required seeing twice a day, for example anyone who had a bad chest infection. Then we worked with the patients who had one-to-one therapy, they were able to mobilize with only the aid of one therapist.

The day ended with an hour of me writing up my notes on the charts of the patients I had seen during my shift.

I arrived home in time to share dinner with Neela and then we had about a half an hour before she had to go off to work again.

The next couple of days passed in much the same way. Neela and I only being able to spend a couple of hours together each day. Neela would come home each morning telling me about her annoying patient. They had developed a uti postoperatively and was still as pleasant as ever apparently. Each morning I would give her a foot massage.

There was something I wanted to say to Neela before I left for work today. "Mai tauna pyar karda"

Her eyes lit up "I love you too. When did you learn Punjabi?" she asked.

"That's all I know" I admitted sheepishly. I wrapped my arms around her as we stood there in the kitchen . "Please tell me it's almost over"

"What?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"You working night shifts" I replied.

"Yeah, only one more night after tonight, then I get the weekend off. I know how hard it's been on you this week and I plan to make it up to you." She sucked on my bottom lip.

In between kisses I asked "Oh yeah, and what might you have planned?"

"It's a surprise" she replied with a seductive smile.

"Can't you just give me a little clue" I pleaded.

She looked up towards the ceiling "Ehm nope sorry" her lips came crashing back to mine. Making sure I didn't have any opportunity to counter her statement with one of my own. Why did she keep doing this to me? Even though she knew I had to leave to go to work it seemed as if every morning she wanted to make love. Don't get me wrong I wanted to, I wanted to BAD! I had responsibilities to my patients though. So once again I found myself having to pull away from her, leaving us both frustrated. I left Neela in the kitchen and went to work.

I'm certainly not the Ray Barnett I was when we were interns together. Back then I was more into getting to a gig on time then caring for my patients. I was always the first to leave, sometimes signing out before my shift had ended. I had never forgotten the night that Neela had come and chewed me out about my cavalier attitude. I thought she had come to the club to watch us play. It became apparent pretty quickly that wasn't the reason for her visit.

To this day I still remembered the words she said as I tried to explain myself "Screw your gig, medicine isn't a day job" That's when I brought up her history of working in the Jumbo Mart, trying desperately to turn the attention away from me. What really hit home though and left me in a stunned silence were her final words " It was the most important decision of his life. He trusted you and you left"

It seemed like such a long time ago now. I was only just getting to know her back then, it was before we became roomies and before we had fallen in love.

Neela had never had a problem with speaking her mind. She fought with me better than anyone. I remembered the pleasure she had taken in being the one who had to inform me about the whole Zoe debacle. After that I stopped sleeping with groupies, not wanting to be caught out again. I was lucky that the worst I had got was an ass kicking from her Dad and not jail time. Zoe would probably be coming up for her eighteenth birthday this December. That's when things had started to change between Neela and myself, she had been the one to tend to the cuts on my face, we began to grow closer from then on and I had fallen for her.

I made my way up to the surgical ward. Typical, I was working in surgery when Neela was on nights.

"Aaron, Ray. Over here" Jo gestured for us to come over to a patient's bedside.

"What is it Jo?" I asked, with a smile.

"This is Mrs Ward. She's day three post-op, had a surgical debridement for necrotizing fascitis. She has a VAC dressing on her abdominal wound. It's about time we got you up and moving, isn't it Mrs Ward?"

"Hmm" the patient waved Jo's statement away, obviously not interested in her ideas. Something seemed strangely familiar about this patient, I couldn't quite put my finger on it though.

"Can I have a look at her chart?" I asked Jo, who gladly handed it over to me. As I looked for any pertinent information in her medical notes I recognized Neela's handwriting. That's why her case had sounded so familiar. It was the patient that Neela had been venting about for the past few days.

This should be interesting I thought!

"Okay if I leave her in your capable hands?" Jo asked, with a wink before she walked down the corridor. Aaron staring at her ass until she disappeared from view.

"She's hot" he said.

"Who Mrs Ward?" I whispered with a cocky smile, not wanting the patient to overhear our conversation as I teased Aaron.

"No. Jo" he whispered back from the other side of the bed.

"She's okay I guess" I shrugged. "I don't think we should be talking about this whilst we're working" I said seriously.

"Hi Mrs Ward, I'm Ray Barnett and this is Aaron Maslen" I said, introducing us to the patient. "We're here to help get you up and about again"

"Don't you touch me. I don't need your help. I'm happy just lying here" she scowled, Neela hadn't been kidding when she had told me about her attitude.

"How about we start with something very simple. Let's just move you from the bed to the chair"

It took Aaron and me the entire morning to move Mrs Ward from her bed to the armchair next to it due to her non-compliance. When I wrote up my notes later on I would make a note of her not cooperating with us, therefore making our job all the more difficult.

"Well that was fun" Aaron said as we headed to the cafeteria.

"Tell me about it" I replied.

…..............................

"Guess what babe?" I said. I gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

"What?" she asked.

"I saw your patient today and you're right she needs a serious attitude adjustment"

"Do you believe me now?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry I should never have doubted you" I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her body close to mine. I rested my face in her hair, inhaling the scent of her hair. Her shampoo smelt of

strawberry and vanilla. I placed a soft kiss on her forehead. She lifted her face up and we stood there, staring into each others eyes for a moment before her lips came up to meet mine.

"Ray, I have to go to work" she groaned, breaking the kiss.

"Okay" I sighed. " I'm glad this is almost over"

"Me too" she kissed me quickly on the lips, picked up her car keys and went to work.

…...................................

It was Friday night, Neela's last overnight before having the weekend off. She would probably spend all morning in bed tomorrow and wake up around two in the afternoon to try and get her body used to waking up in the morning again.

The band was over for another practice "See you tomorrow morning" Neela shouted from the door.

"Love you" I shouted back.

"Wooooo" the guys erupted into laughing.

"Shut up, you're just jealous" I replied.

"Barnett, lets play" Bret said.

"What are we starting with?" I asked, putting my guitar strap over my shoulder and tuning my guitar.

"There's that song I've been working on, can we try that?" Bret asked.

"Oh okay" Bret always sang the songs that he had written.

"**No one said this would be easy,**

**take a breath and make it big.**

**Under water for too long and this is all you're gonna get" (A/N No Copyright Infringement intended Song GPK by Jonny Was written by Brett Klorer)**

As we struck the last chord I said "Not bad"

"Thanks" Bret replied.

Having rehearsed for a few hours we packed up and the guys began to leave. It was just Bret and me left.

"How's Neela?" he asked.

"She's good" I said.

"Good. How are things going with you two?"

"Really well. It's been hard this past week, what with Neela working nights and me working during the day."

"You guys doing anything this weekend?"

"No, not got any plans at the moment. Why?" I quirked my eyebrow.

"I just thought it might be nice if we all went out to dinner Saturday night, catch up"

"I guess that would be okay"

"Cool, I'll see you tomorrow around seven"

"Sure" Bret left and I had the feeling that I had just made a terrible mistake telling Bret that Neela and I would go to dinner with him tomorrow night. I felt even worse as I remembered mine and Neela's conversation yesterday morning, when she had told me that she had plans for us this weekend. Damn I was going to be in the doghouse when I told her about the plans I had made for us.

**Medical Terminology**

**OT - Occupational Therapist **

**UTI - Urinary Tract Infection**

**VAC Dressing - The V.A.C.® Abdominal Dressing is a specialty dressing indicated for temporary bridging of abdominal wall openings where primary closure is not possible and / or repeat abdominal entries are necessary. The Intended Use of this dressing is in open abdominal wounds**

**A/N Hope you liked the chapter. Let me know what you thought. Good news is I now have a plot for the story and am no longer winging it. I know what I want to happen (thanks Everclearbabe for your help on coming up with the story) Thanks for your continued reading and support :) Will post a link to the song on my profile page. **


	10. Dinner Date

**A/P Hi Guys, really sorry about how long it had taken me to update. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**I don't own ER - just playing with the characters**

**_Dinner Date._**

**RPOV**

I woke up on hearing Neela come into our room. "Sorry, did I wake you?" she asked as she walked over to the bed. I noticed that she was still wearing her scrubs.

"I wasn't really asleep" I replied a little groggily. "Come over here" I said, patting her side of the bed. She sat down on the bed and leaned over to kiss me. As she pulled away from me I brought her face back to mine and kissed her passionately, my hands exploring her body. Our kiss was briefly interrupted as I pulled her scrub top over her head. My hands were working on her bra clasp when she pulled away.

"Ray" she groaned.

"What?" I smiled, before kissing her again.

"I really want to but I've had an awful night and I'm completely cream-crackered"

"You're what?" I laughed. I still didn't understand some of the British expressions Neela used.

"Cream-crackered as in knackered, beat, exhausted" she removed the rest of her clothes and pulled on a certain t-shirt that I had never gotten rid of.

"Oh okay, I see"

She crawled under the covers and snuggled into my chest and within moments was fast asleep in my arms. I gently stroked her long, dark, soft hair and soon after found myself falling back asleep.

It was eleven am before I woke up again and I was surprised to discover that Neela wasn't laying in the bed next to me. I made my way downstairs to see that she was already dressed and cooking breakfast for us.

"Morning Roomie" I said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before taking out some cutlery and setting the table.

"You know I'm the one who worked all night but you're the one who couldn't get up" she said, spooning scrambled egg onto our plates.

"As I recall you mentioned something about being exhausted so I wasn't expecting you to wake up until early afternoon" I replied. "I wonder if you were just trying to get out of something" I said raising my eyebrows.

She walked over to the table set down the plates of food before sitting on my lap and crashing her lips to mine and kissing me passionately, her hands tugging on my hair as she pulled me closer to her, deepening the kiss. I went to wrap my arms around her waist when she ended the kiss as abruptly as she had started it and moved over to her own seat and started eating.

I sat there with my mouth open "What was that?" I asked, confused by what had just happened.

"I believe it's called a kiss" she smiled.

"Ha ha very funny. Why did you initiate it if you weren't going to take it anywhere?"

"Shut up and eat your breakfast" she smirked.

I quietly picked up my fork and began piling scrambled egg into my mouth. I should be mad at her but somehow all the tension I had felt only moments ago dissolved away as I continued to eat. Once again the food was delicious. "I think you should cook every morning" I suggested.

"Bollocks to that" she quickly replied. "Anyway in case you had forgotten I'm not always here in the morning to cook your breakfast"

"Okay, calm down woman it was just a suggestion" I said with a playful tone as I picked up our empty plates and took them over to the sink, where I began to run some water to wash up.

"Did you seriously just call me woman?" she asked, acting all haughtily as she walked over to me.

"Yeah, what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll show you what I'm going to do about it" she said splashing hot water into my face before running away.

"Oh no you don't" I said, grabbing her around the waist, pulling her back to me enabling me to splash her back. I also took this opportunity to start tickling her.

"Ray, get off me" she said, pushing her hands against mine trying to stop me and failing miserably.

"You started this" I replied with a devilish grin spreading across my face.

She held her hands up in surrender "Okay, okay I give"

"Promise" I said looking longingly into her soulful, brown eyes.

"I promise" she said, bringing her lips to mine and kissing me tenderly, I kissed her back.

I should have known better. As we were locked in a passionate embrace Neela used the chance to soak me with the water. Once again she quickly ran away, only this time I wasn't quick enough to catch her. "I'd watch out if I were you, this isn't over you know. One day I will get you back" I said as I started to wash the dishes.

"Ray, on Monday can you bring in those boxes over there to go into my office?" she called from the living room.

"Of course, you know I'd do anything for you baby"

"Thanks" she said, walking back into the kitchen.

"You're welcome. Neela there's something I need to tell you" I could see her entire body tense up at my words.

"What?" she asked.

"We're going out for dinner with Bret tonight" I said, putting on a false smile.

"What? When did all this happen?" she asked, she didn't look impressed.

"Umm, last night at band practice. He asked and I couldn't really say no could I?"

"I guess not" she sighed. "You'd better make this up to me" she said walking over to me.

"Don't worry I plan to spend the whole afternoon making it up to you" I replied, stroking a stray strand of hair from her face before placing the palm of my hand to her face and crashing my lips against hers.

"Good" she said against my lips.

**NPOV**

Ray and I had spent the entire afternoon back in bed, making love. After a week of not seeing each other for more than a couple of hours a day we hadn't felt this close and connected for a while. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and revelled in the closeness we were able to feel once again. I was glad that my night shifts were out of the way for about a month and that we would have some time we could spend together again.

Ray told me about his work colleagues and how they all wanted to meet me. After hearing stories about me for the last five months they were really looking forward to getting to know me. I suggested that maybe we could have a BBQ or something next Saturday evening. Ray agreed that it would be a good idea and that I should invite my colleagues along too, he specifically mentioned that I should invite Jo as she was such a nice girl. Besides his own team she had been one of the first people to make him feel welcome here when he started his new job. He even admitted that they had gone out on a few dates but agreed to just be friends. I couldn't help feeling slightly jealous at his friendship with her.

I was just finishing up on getting ready for dinner, I was wearing a cute little black dress and heels. I decided to curl my hair and wear it down. It wasn't often I got to dress up so I was making the most of it.

"Wow, you look WOW!" Ray said at a loss for words.

"You look very handsome" I said, casting my eye over his black trousers and royal blue shirt that he was wearing.

I was having difficulty with the clasp of my necklace.

"Here, let me help you with that" he said, standing behind me and doing it up. He brought his lips down to the skin just below my ear, I could feel his hot breath on the back of my neck and felt that familiar shiver run down my spine. He gently began kissing my heated skin when the phone began to ring. "I'll get it" he said.

After putting my earrings in I made my way downstairs and overheard the last part of Ray's conversation. "Yeah that sounds great. I'll see you soon. Bye" he span around and I swear that he jumped when he saw me.

"Who was it?" I asked.

"Just Bret"

"He called even though we're going to see him in about ten minutes"

"Well you know Bret. He's a born worrier and wanted to make sure that we were still coming tonight"

This didn't sound like the Bret I knew, he had always seemed such a laid back guy as if nothing could worry him.

"You ready to go then?" Ray asked.

"As ready as I'm going to be" I said taking a deep breath. I really didn't want to do this dinner it was going to be really awkward. All I wanted to do was veg out on the couch watching movies with Ray.

Ten minutes later we had arrived at the restaurant and were being seated. We had only just sat down when Ray excused himself to go use the bathroom. I didn't know what I was going to say to Bret when I remembered about his phone call. "So, Ray tells me you're a bit of a worrier. The brief time I spent with you back in Chicago I can't say that you seemed the worrying type"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, looking confused.

"It's just it's a little bit overkill calling ten minutes before we're due to meet you don't you think?" I replied, trying to be as polite as possible.

"I didn't call you guys"

"Oh" I said, a little shocked and wondering why Ray had lied to me. That's when he came back from the bathroom and sat down beside me.

"So, what'd I miss?" he asked.

"Nothing" I said quickly cutting Bret off before he could say anything. I didn't want to make things any more uncomfortable than they already were.

"Neela, Ray here tells me it's your birthday next month. Are you looking forward to it?"

"Do I look like I'm a kid" I said a little more sharply than I had intended.

"I take it you're not a fan of birthdays then" he continued with the conversation.

"No, not really. Most people seem to forget anyway" I thought back to the year where only Tony had remembered when my birthday was.

We spent the entire meal making small talk, I don't think any of us were that comfortable in the situation. I still couldn't get past the fact that Ray had found it necessary to lie to me about the phone call earlier. When we got home I planned to dial *69 and find out who had really called. I zoned out a bit when the conversation turned to music and their plans for the band.

Finally the evening had come to an end and we were in the car on the way home. "You could have made a bit more of an effort" Ray said, glancing over to me.

"What?" I replied.

"With Bret, you didn't talk to him much and when you did you were a little rude"

"Well I'm sorry that I don't live up to your expectations of how a good little girlfriend should behave"

"What? That's not what I meant. What is with you tonight? Ever since I came back from the bathroom at the restaurant you've been distant"

"I guess I'm just tired" I shrugged.

The rest of the car journey was spent in an awkward silence, neither of us wanting to be the first to speak for fear of upsetting the other.

"I'm going to bed" Ray said as soon as we walked through the front door.

"Okay, I'll be up in a moment"

"Goodnight" he kissed me before walking upstairs.

I went straight to the phone and found out the number of who had called. I recognized the number as being the hospital's. This didn't make any sense, if somebody from the hospital had called it must have had something to do with work so why hadn't he just told me the truth? I was still no closer to finding out who it was that had called earlier tonight.

I switched off the lights and made my way upstairs to bed. I crawled under the covers, but instead of snuggling up against Ray I lay on my side, my back facing him.

**A/N As always let me know what you thought. Thanks :) There won't be another update for probably over a week as I am going on holiday on Monday. Yay!**


	11. Mistake

**A/N Really sorry this has taken so long.**

**Don't own ER - Just messing with the characters.**

**Mistake.**

**NPOV**

It was Monday and I was actually glad to be going in to work today! Things had been a little tense yesterday between Ray and myself. It had all begun from when he woke up and found me lying on my side, turned away from him and not in my usual position, with my head snuggled against his chest. He had asked if something was wrong and I had just brushed him off with some snide comment. I hadn't meant to hurt his feelings but that's what happened.

We hardly spoke for the rest of the day. Ray was sulking and I was still mad at him for lying to me.

"Dr. Rasgotra, Mr Klein's infection doesn't seem to be clearing up with the drugs he's on. Can I give him a shot of penicillin?" one of the surgical nurses came up and asked me.

"Yes, give him the shot" I replied.

"Okay" she said, and went to administer the shot. I returned to my charting and going through all the possibilities of why Ray had lied to me about the phone call. I couldn't stop myself keep coming back to the idea that he was having an affair. But I didn't know who with, all I knew was that it was someone in the hospital. I resolved that as of today I would pay more attention to all of Ray's interactions with women at work.

That's when I heard the crash call. I went running to bed 5, Mr Klein's bed. Jo was already there attempting to intubate the patient. "What the hell happened?" I asked, pushing Jo aside taking the laryngoscope from her hands. "I can't see anything, his airway is completely swollen. Get me a crike tray please. Come on" I shouted, time was of the essence in a case like this.

I quickly opened the tray and put on the surgical gloves. I used the scalpel to create a 2cm vertical incision through the cricothyroid membrane, then opened the hole using a clamp. I placed a size 7 endotracheal tube and the nurse began bagging him. I took my stethoscope off and listened to his chest to determine that Mr Klein was getting oxygen.

Now that I had secured the airway I noticed the angioedema on Mr Klein's face and recognized it as a classic sign of anaphylaxis. "Have you given anything to Mr Klein in the past hour?" I queried.

"Just a shot of penicillin" the nurse replied.

"Give me his chart, and I'll need some epinephrine" I called across the bed.

As I flicked through his chart I saw what I was afraid of, Mr Klein had an allergy to Penicillin. "He's in anaphylactic shock" I stated to the room. "Who gave the shot?" I asked.

"I did" a young nurse stepped up. She didn't look as if it were that long ago she was in High School.

"You're supposed to check with a Doctor before administering any new drugs" I chewed her out.

"But I did, I checked with you and you said to go ahead" It all came rushing back to me I hadn't asked to see the chart, my mind being on mine and Ray's current predicament rather than my job. After the epi had gotten into Mr Klein's system his vital signs began returning to normal. I had been lucky this time, we had caught the reaction in time and saved the patient. I could have killed Mr Klein due to my own carelessness. I needed to go and get some air.

As I made my way to my office I remembered having been in this position before. I had only been a med student the last time I had made a fatal drug error because I had wanted to impress my superiors and had acted without all the relevant information. You would have thought that I would have learned my lesson from that incident! Michael had covered for me on that particular occasion at a huge cost to himself, it had been shortly after that he had left to go to Iraq.

I needed to see some friendly faces so I set up a web chat with County. It was a bit awkward when Simon came over, I could tell that he found it awkward as well. He was putting a brave face on for my sake, pretending that he was happy to see me. I had just showed them my ID badge that read associate professor on it when Ray came through the door with a couple of boxes in his hands.

"I brought those boxes you wanted from home" he said as he placed them down behind me. I had forgotten that I had asked him to bring them in when he came into work. Going by the time he must be doing it on his lunch break.

"Who are you talking to?" he asked, coming up and leaning on my chair.

"County" I replied, looking at him and smiling. I was keeping up the appearance that I was perfectly happy here and that I didn't regret leaving County. A couple of days ago I could honestly say that was the truth but now I wasn't so sure.

Ray said hi and everyone said hi back. I couldn't help but notice the smug look that crept across Ray's face. It were as if he were expressing to both Tony and Simon I won, she's with me. I'm not sure I liked this side of him.

After saying bye I turned round to face Ray "Can we talk?" I asked, I needed to talk to someone about the allergy mistake as I was worried what might happen.

"I can't now" he said, glancing down at his watch "We'll talk at home" he kissed me and ran out of my office. What was he doing that was so important that he couldn't spare five minutes to talk to me?

Ten minutes later I decided that maybe food would help lift my spirits and went to the canteen. I had just gotten my food and was looking for a table when I saw Ray at a table sitting with one of my colleagues Jo. They were on their own and seemed unaware of anyone else in the place. They were chatting away and kept on laughing. Is this why Ray had run out of my office so quickly, because he was having lunch with Jo? That's when it hit me, Jo would have been working on Saturday and was probably the one who called. Oh my God that's it. Ray was having an affair with Jo. I slammed my tray down and stormed out, I had lost my appetite after seeing the two of them together. They weren't even trying to hide it either!

**A/N As always let me know what you thought of this chapter. Thanks : )**


	12. Feeling Guilty

**A/N Don't own ER just playing with the characters**

**Feeling Guilty.**

**RPOV**

"What was that?" I asked Jo. I heard a crashing sound from across the room. I saw a discarded tray full of food that by the way the food had been spilled looked as if the tray had been slammed down. The door leading out of the canteen was just closing. I had just missed seeing who it was that had been in such a rush to leave.

"I'd better get back to work" I said, standing up.

"OK, see you later then?" Jo asked.

"Yep, shall we say around nine"

"Cool"

With that I left the canteen. As I walked along the corridors of the hospital I found myself thinking back to the weekend and how tense the house had been. I couldn't shake the feeling that Neela was mad at me. Had she found out what Jo and I were up to? No she couldn't have, we had been careful to only talk at work. People knew we were friends and suspicions wouldn't be raised if we were seen eating lunch together at the hospital.

I was on my way to see a patient that I had been working with since last Tuesday. When I first saw her she was in ICU recovering from a Cystectomy and neobladder formation. She had developed a post operative chest infection and required chest physio whilst on ICU. I had repositioned her bed so that she was sat in a position.

"Hi, Mrs Smith. How are you feeling today?" I asked, taking a seat on the edge of her bed.

"A little better, thanks"

"Good, good. Have you been working on that breathing technique I taught you?"

"Yes" I had taught Mrs Smith a simple breathing technique known as active cycle of breathing technique that would aid in loosening and clearing secretions and improve ventilation.

"Can you show me?" I asked, it was part of my job to make sure that the patients were using the techniques in the correct manner.

She began with breathing control where she spent thirty seconds just breathing gently, using her lower chest and relaxing her upper chest and shoulders. Next she moved onto the second stage, deep breathing. After four deep breaths she began huffing, a medium sized breath followed by a fast breath out through an open mouth. This then allowed her to move to the final stage of coughing, this was only to be done if needed though.

"Very good" I said, noting her progress on my chart.

I helped mobilize her into the chair next to her bed, this was as much progress as Mrs Smith had made. "I'll see you same time tomorrow. Let's see if we can get you up and about" I felt that she was ready to begin walking again.

"Yes, that would be good Dr Barnett" she smiled.

"Please, call me Ray"

"OK, Ray. But you have to start calling me Betty"

"See you tomorrow Betty" I walked off to see my next patient for the day.

It had been a long day and I was more than ready to be going home come five o'clock. I went to the elevator and hit the button for the sixth floor, the surgical floor. I wanted to see Neela before I left. Unfortunately she was tied up in an emergency surgery that was likely to last another two or three hours. I just hoped that it wouldn't make her late back. Obviously something was bothering her and she needed to talk about it. I was feeling a bit guilty for leaving her high and dry in her office at lunch. On reflection I'm sure that Jo wouldn't have minded me turning up late or postponing our meeting completely.

…..

It was nine thirty and Neela still wasn't home yet.

"Ray, is something wrong?" Jo asked, taking a bite of water chestnut.

I had been clock watching since she had turned up just before nine. I had hoped that Neela would be here. I'm sure that Jo and her would become great friends if they socialized a little outside of work. The rational side of me knew that Neela had just got caught up in surgery and that's why she was late. But she should have been home a little over two hours ago and I was starting to worry.

"Why hasn't she called?" the words tumbled out of my mouth.

"You know how it is. You get caught up in surgery, calling home to say you're running a little late isn't exactly the most important thing" she said, with a smile.

"Yeah, I know" since when had I become such a worrier?

I gathered our plates and dumped them in the sink. I left Neela's plate in the microwave so that she would have some food when she got home. After a long surgery she was going to be starving. "Do you want some wine?" I called out to Jo.

"Yeah, okay" she replied.

"Red or white?"

"Umm, white please."

I pulled out a bottle of Chardonnay and took a corkscrew from the drawer and opened it, then poured two glasses. I took the glasses and the bottle out to the dining room and set them on the table.

"Cheers" Jo said, clinking my glass. "So, Ray is it true you used to carry a scalpel in your pocket?"

"Did Neela tell you that?"

"Maybe. You didn't answer my question" she said, staring at me waiting for my response.

"Well, a bone saw was too bulky"

Peals of laughter began escaping Jo's mouth, as she continued to laugh I found myself laughing along with her.

That's when the key turned in the lock and Neela walked through the door.

"Oh. Hi Jo" she said with surprise. It had been a long day for her as well, she looked exhausted and as if she was going to collapse at any minute.

"Hey Neela" Jo said in response.

I got out of my seat and walked over to where Neela was "Hey Roomie" I said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Umm, I'm really tired so I'm just going to go to bed"

"I should be going anyway" Jo said, starting to stand up.

"No, please stay." Neela said.

"I'll be up in a bit" I said and leaned in to kiss her goodnight, but she evaded me.

"Night Jo" she said, dragging her feet up the stairs.

That was a little weird. We always kissed each other goodnight.

**A/N Sorry it was a little short. Let me know what you think. Thanks :)**


	13. Weak Moment

**A/N Don't own ER - Just messing with the characters**

**Weak Moment.**

**NPOV**

It had been a long shift and I was exhausted. I just wanted to get home and curl up in bed, snuggled in Ray's chest. Maybe I had overreacted when I saw him and Jo eating lunch together. After all they were still friends.

As I drove home I made the decision to talk things over with Ray and apologize for my behaviour of late and explain that things were going to change. I would pay more attention to him. It had taken us so long to get here and I didn't want to fight anymore.

…............................

I was laying in bed, seething. I can't believe that Ray had invited Jo round for a meal. How could he? In our home! I also noticed that he had cooked Penne a la Barnett, a speciality of his that he only made when he really liked a girl. I could hear them still laughing and talking away. I propped myself up on my elbows, throwing a glance out at the alarm clock, it was midnight and Jo was still here. As the minutes dragged by I became more and more angry.

Around one o'clock, Ray finally made his way upstairs and into the bedroom. "I thought you would be asleep" he said. He walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek. "You missed a really good night. There's still some food left over in the microwave if you're hungry? I cooked my speciality and you didn't eat any"

"Can you just leave me alone. There's some blankets over there" I pointed to the chair by the desk where I used my laptop. "I think you should sleep on the couch tonight" I said.

"Neela, what's wrong? Did I do something to upset you?" he looked worried. That's right buddy I'm onto you and you know it I thought.

"Can we talk about it tomorrow. I really am tired and it's going to be a long conversation."

"OK" he picked up the blankets and I heard his footsteps as he went back downstairs.

I really needed to talk to somebody but I didn't really know anybody here. I would talk to Abby, but first I really did need to get some sleep.

My alarm rang at six o'clock. I woke up and wondered why Ray wasn't sleeping next to me. Then the events of last night came rushing back and I remembered that I had sent him downstairs. I got up and tiptoed to the shower. I woke myself up standing under the nozzle feeling the hot water warming my cool skin.

I walked downstairs, being careful to make the least amount of noise as possible so as to not wake Ray. I needn't have bothered though as he was already up, making breakfast. Definitely has a guilty conscience.

"Morning Roomie" he smiled.

"Don't call me that"

"But that's my nickname for you" he said, puzzled.

"And you know how much I hate it" I tersely replied.

"You didn't seem to hate it a couple of days ago"

"Well a lot of things have changed since then"

"OK. I've had enough of all this. Why are you always trying to pick a fight with me? What have I done that's gotten you so upset" he raised his voice and slammed the plate of breakfast down in front of me.

"You know exactly what you've done" I replied, the level of my voice matching his.

"No, I don't. Please tell me what it is so that I don't do it again."

"I've got to get to work. Don't think you're off the hook though. We will talk about this later on tonight" I stormed out of the kitchen leaving Ray looking dumbfounded.

It was mid morning and I found myself with some time to spare. I decided to call Abby and just hoped that she was free to chat. The phone started ringing "Come on Abby pick up, pick up" I chanted to myself, willing her to answer the phone.

"Hi this is Abby. I'm unable to take your call at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep. Thanks" _Beep._

"Hi Abby it's Neela, I really need to talk to you. Can you call me back as soon as you get this. OK, bye"

I paced up and down the length of my office, too restless to sit still. I flicked up my pager, making sure I hadn't been paged to the ER or something. Knock, Knock. There were two raps at my door.

"Can I come in?" Ray's familiar voice called.

"Door's open" I shouted back and with that he entered, closing the door behind him.

He walked over to me "Hey" he said, as his face nuzzled the back of my neck. The warmth of his hot breath felt so good. I turned to face him and stared into his beautiful green eyes. His lips came crashing down to mine, I allowed myself to find comfort in his kiss and eagerly responded to him. My hands inched up until they were locked around the back of his neck. Ray's lips parted as my tongue slid into his warm, sweet mouth. _Beep Beep, _my pager went off. "Damn it" I said, tearing my mouth from Ray's. I looked to see that the ER was paging me. Didn't need me five minutes ago but now they do.!

"That the ER?" Ray asked.

"Yeah, sorry I've got to go" I apologized as I left, kissing him on the lips once.

"Hey Neela" Ray called, closing the door after he came out of my office.

"Yeah" I span around to face him.

"We good?" he asked.

"Yeah we're good" I nodded with a smile, before rushing to catch the lift down to the ER.

…..................................

I was on my way home after my shift and resolved that Ray and I were going to talk things out. Earlier today had shown me that there was something worth saving here. Maybe when I asked him what was going on with him and Jo he would give a perfectly reasonable, innocent explanation.

I pulled into the our driveway, Ray's car was parked out on the road for some reason. I got out of the car and went to the front door. I was just rifling around in my bag for the keys when Ray opened the door, guitar in hand.

"Hey" he said.

"Hi?" It was more of a question then a statement, I quirked my eyebrows at him.

"Oh, right. I've got band practice round at Brett's tonight" he kissed me on the cheek before brushing past me.

"But I thought we were going to talk?"

"Sorry, I totally forgot about practice and I can't not go. We've got this real important gig next week. I went shopping and got some of that Nutella stuff you like so much. I'll be back in a couple of hours" then he was in his car and speeding off.

Ray hadn't told me his band had a gig next week. My mind started to run through the possibility that he might be using band practice as an excuse to see Jo. Today had been a weak moment and I had allowed my heart to win out over my head. Why hadn't Abby called me back yet? I really needed to talk to her!

I ran myself a warm bath, pouring some bubble bath in. After undressing I climbed in and let myself relax, breathing in the soothing rose petal scents created by the bubble bath. I was drifting off when the phone rang. I leapt out of the bath, wrapped a towel around me and ran to the bedroom to pick up the phone. "Hi" I said, a little out of breath.

"Neela, it's Abby. Are you OK, this isn't a bad time is it?"

"No, no." I said, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. "I'm glad that you called"

"Yeah, you said you wanted to talk about something?" I heard the questioning in her voice.

"It's about Ray" I started.

"What's wrong? Is he OK?" her voice became worried.

"He's fine. I think he's having an....an...." I couldn't say the words, it would be like admitting it was true.

"An???" Abby pushed me to finish my sentence.

"Ahh, I think he's having an affair Abby" The words came tumbling out.

"What makes you think that he's having an affair?"

"He's spending all his time with this girl from work, Jo. Someone from the hospital called here last week and Ray said that it was his band mate Brett who had called. Why would he lie? Unless it was Jo who had called. Last night I got home and Jo was here and they were eating dinner."

"But that doesn't prove anything. I'm sure there's an explanation for his behaviour" she replied.

"Why are you defending him?" the annoyance I was feeling creeping into my voice.

"Look, we've both known Ray a long time and whilst he may have gone through a lot of girlfriends in his time I don't think he ever cheated on one of them. Joe put that down. Luka can you sort him out please" Abby became distracted with her duties as a Mother.

"Do you know something I don't?" I asked.

"No. I just think you should give Ray the benefit of the doubt. If you're worried about this Jo, just be really attentive to Ray around her show her who his girlfriend is"

"I guess"

"Mommy can't read to you now baby sorry, I'm on the phone."

"Sounds like I should let you go"

"OK thanks. Don't let yourself get worked up about something that probably isn't even happening. Bye"

"Bye" Having spoken to Abby I still wasn't convinced that Ray wasn't having an affair but I had a plan now, My plan was to fight for my man. I would show him everything he would be missing if he chose Jo over me. Starting from tonight I was going to be the best girlfriend ever.

**A/N As always let me know what you think. This story is probably going to be wrapped up in the next couple of chapters. I'm going to finish the whole story before I post next time. Then I will post a chapter a day. Thanks : )**


	14. Making Up

**A/N Thanks for being patient with me. Just hope it was worth it : ). As promised now that I have finished the story I will post a chapter a day.**

**Making Up.**

**RPOV**

I was on my way to Brett's house for band practice. When Neela had said earlier that she wanted to talk I had totally forgotten that we were practising tonight. But as I told Neela I couldn't cancel as next week was going to be the biggest gig I had ever played. All of this sneaking around behind her back was weighing on me and I'm glad that I would be telling her everything next week.

I pulled up outside Brett's place and knocked on the door. I was surprised when Jo opened the door.

"Hi Ray" she said in her bubbly voice.

"Hi Jo, I didn't expect to see you here" I said, walking through the door and into the hallway.

"I'm here to see you guys play" she said.

"Whilst I've got you here, are you free this Saturday?"

"Yeah, why?" she looked confused.

"Me and you are going shopping"

"Oooh I love shopping" she beamed.

"I know, that's why I need you with me"

"Hey Ray, we're all set up in the back room" Brett came out and slapped his hand down in mine as a greeting.

I walked through leaving Brett and Jo to follow in their own time.

…...............................

The rehearsal went really well we were sounding really tight. After making a few phone calls on my cell I made my way home to Neela.

I was not prepared for what I saw as I walked through the door. She must have gone to a lot of trouble. The table had been laid with all of our best china and there were two candles burning away, creating a soft, romantic light. Neela was stood, resting on a chair wearing a little black dress that hugged her curves in all the right places. Her beauty was breathtaking. "What's all this?" I asked, gesturing to the meal laid out on the table. To be truthful I was surprised that she wasn't fast asleep, she had had a couple of rough days work wise and I know that she was worrying about something. I just didn't know what that something might be.

She walked over to me, removed my jacket and kissed me softly on the back of the neck. "I know I've been sort of cold and distant in the past week. This is my way of apologizing. Do you want red or white wine?" she asked as she started walking to the kitchen and I took my seat at the table.

"Umm, white please" I replied, still gobsmacked that Neela had gone to all this trouble for me. She came back to the table with a cold bottle of wine, straight from the fridge.

"Tell me when" she said as she started to pour the drink into the glass.

"When" I said, once she had gotten to filling the glass just over halfway. "Thanks" I smiled.

"You're welcome" she replied. Then she placed the bottle on the table and sat down on my lap, her hand stroking my cheek. She brought her face down to mine and whispered "I love you" before kissing me passionately. Her soft lips brushing over mine, followed by her tongue slipping into my mouth. I massaged it with my own, my hands were now in her hair whilst hers were wrapped around the back of my neck. I was confused but happy. We hadn't been this close since dinner with Brett last weekend. I still couldn't figure out what I had done that was so wrong. None of that mattered now though. Her hand started slipping down my back until they were clasped on the hem of my t-shirt. She started to tug my t-shirt up. I lifted my arms, helping her remove it. Our lips parted as the material went over my head. My lips crashed back down to hers as soon as my t-shirt was gone. Following her lead I started to unzip the back of her dress, slowly and seductively. That's when the oven timer went off. "Bollocks" she said with an exasperated sigh. She lifted herself up off of my lap and after doing her zip back up scurried off to the kitchen.

Why was it when ever we shared a loving moment there was always something interrupting us? We just couldn't seem to catch a break! I picked my t-shirt up off the floor and quickly threw it back on. "Mmmm something smells good" I said, breathing in the aromas.

"It's Cajun Chicken" she smiled. "Your favourite" she added, placing the plate down on the table.

"You're spoiling me" I beamed. "What did I do to deserve this?"

"Like I said earlier I owe you an apology and this is my way of showing it" she dug into some salad, adding it to her plate.

"Bon appetite" she smiled, lifting a fork of food to her mouth.

"Mmm this is really good" I said after eating my first mouthful.

"Thanks" she smiled.

"You're welcome"

…......................................

We had just finished cleaning the dishes. "What next?" I asked. It seemed as though Neela had this evening all planned out.

She walked up to me, interlocking her fingers in mine. She whispered into my ear "I was thinking of going up to the bedroom" she nibbled on my earlobe.

"OK" I replied, allowing her to lead me upstairs.

Once we were in the bedroom Neela pressed her lips against mine, I could taste the spices from the Cajun chicken we had just eaten on her mouth. "Wait here" she whispered against my lips. "I'm going to get changed into something a little more comfortable" she said with a smirk.

Whilst Neela was in the bathroom, getting changed I took the opportunity to get undressed and remove my prosthetics. Neela walked into the room and my breath caught in the back of my throat at the sight of her.

"That good huh?" she asked as she climbed onto the bed.

"Uh-huh" I was pretty much speechless. Neela looked amazing dressed in a little pink babydoll, she had also curled her hair and put it up. It wouldn't surprise me if I was drooling, she looked that good. I couldn't understand what had brought on this change of heart from her. Once her lips were brushing against mine I lost the will to care anymore.

My fingers wondered across her collarbone until they were resting on the straps of her babydoll. I curled my finger around the lacy material and slowly pulled the strap off of her shoulder. She tore her lips off of mine and sat up, removing everything that she was wearing. Then straddling me she slid down onto my shaft and swivelled her hips up down and around, bringing herself closer to that climatic moment. Her lips puckered into the familiar O shape as she rolled her head back in ecstasy. "Oh God Raaaay" she cried.

"Neeeela" I screamed as I rode out my pleasure with her. Then she rolled off of me, collapsing on the bed, wiping a sheen of sweat from her brow.

I rolled over, facing her. My hand caressing her face tenderly "I love you" I whispered before pressing my lips against hers.

"I _love_ you. Just for the record that was amazing" she replied softly.

"You were a little loud tonight" I chuckled in her ear.

"What about you?" she retorted.

"I thought it was a challenge" I said in mock innocence.

"I really should get some sleep. I've got to get up in five hours" she groaned as she nestled into my chest.

"Night Roomie" I kissed her forehead.

"Night Ray" I was glad that everything seemed to be back on track with our relationship. I was worried about what Neela's over-active imagination may have cooked up when she saw me eating with Jo last night. Neela wouldn't have to wait long though before all her questions – should she still have any, would be answered.

**A/N Let me know what you thought : )**


	15. Unwell

**Unwell**

**NPOV**

I woke up the next morning, my head killing me. I reset my alarm clock to give myself a little more time, see if this headache could be shifted by sleep. Try as I might I couldn't get back to sleep, my head just hurt too much.

Being careful so as not to wake Ray I climbed out of bed, upon standing up I began to feel nauseas. I made it to the bathroom, where I opened the medicine cabinet and took out some ibuprofen. I took two pills from the blister pack, swallowed them and washed them down with a glass of water.

I walked back into our bedroom and glanced over at the time. I was due in at work in another 45 minutes. I called in sick for fear that I wouldn't be able to get rid of this damn headache. Rose told me to feel better, I thanked her and said that I was sure that I would be back in tomorrow.

After replacing the phone in the cradle I laid my head back down on the bed and tried to get back to sleep, anything was preferable to experiencing this pain!

"I didn't expect to still see you here" Ray said, as his alarm woke him up. He leaned over, pressing his lips to my forehead.

"Agh, Ray could you please turn off that racket for the love of god" I groaned, my hand reaching up to my head. It had been over an hour since I took the pills and they hadn't even touched my splitting headache. He rolled onto his side and stretched his arm out, silencing the deafening alarm.

"Thanks" I grimaced.

"What's wrong babe?" he asked, his hand grazing against my cheek.

"It's nothing, I've just got a real bad headache"

" Have you taken something for it?" he wiped his hand across my fevered brow.

"Yes, I've taken two pills but they haven't even touched it" I explained.

He kissed my forehead "You've got a bit of a temperature. I'm going to take the day off, stay here and look after you" he smiled.

As he leaned over me and grabbed up the phone I said "Ray, you don't have to do that. You should go in today. Plus won't it look a bit suspicious if we both call in sick?"

"You worry too much, just let me take care of you OK?" he looked deep into my eyes. He started dialling the number.

I had managed to drift off back to sleep for a few hours. "Knock, knock" came Ray's soft voice as he walked into the room. "How are you feeling?" he inquired, sitting on the side of the bed, a tray in his hands.

"What's that?" I asked, detecting a slight aroma of chicken.

" I made you some chicken soup and bread. I also made you a glass of orange juice" he put the tray on the nightstand. "Do you think you're up to eating something?"

"Yeah, I think so" I replied quietly. Ray helped me to sit up and then put the tray on my lap. "I thought chicken soup was for when you had a cold?" I managed a half smile, my headache was still present but not anywhere near as bad as it was earlier.

"Well I'm new at all of this" he smiled back.

It wasn't long before I was mopping up the last drops of soup out of the bowl with my bread, then I started sipping my drink. "Thanks for all this" I gestured to the tray.

"You're welcome" Ray said, taking the tray from my lap and placing it on the nightstand. For the second time that day he grazed his hand across my forehead. "I think your temperature has gone" he pressed his lips to mine before picking the tray up and disappearing back downstairs.

I dozed back to sleep for what must have been about thirty minutes. This time when I woke up my headache had just about gone. As I looked over to the led screen of the alarm clock I saw that it was already three in the afternoon. I had practically spent all day in bed! I walked over to the drawer and pulled out a pair of cotton pyjama bottoms and a vest top. I slipped them on and wrapped a light robe around me. As I walked downstairs I caught a reflection of myself in the mirror, I looked a state and a half but I didn't have the energy to care right now.

"Hey, what are you doing out of bed?" Ray asked, turning his head to face me.

He was watching daytime TV. "I'm feeling better and wanted to come downstairs"

"Well I'm just watching some... actually I don't know what I'm watching" he finished with a chuckle. I sat down beside him and planted my lips on his, kissing him slow and gentle. As I took my lips from his I brought my legs up onto the couch and curled myself into Ray's arms.

"What was that for?" he asked of the kiss.

"For staying home and taking care of me today" I smiled, looking into his green eyes.

We spent the next couple of hours just curled up on the couch in each others arms, watching TV.

"I should start making us some dinner, babe" I said, standing up, my hand lovingly squeezing Ray's thigh.

"Oh no you don't" he replied, jumping up with more speed then I thought was possible with prosthetics. "I'll make us dinner" he kissed me on the cheek as he brushed past me.

I sat back down and started flicking through all the different channels. "Cool, they've got world tour poker on" I called out to Ray. A memory flashed in front of my eyes from when we were roomies back in Chicago and he used to TiVo the programme for me.

"OK, dinner is served" Ray called half an hour later.

I turned to stand up and noticed that he already had everything set out on the table. "Mmm spaghetti bolognese" I said, making my way to the table. Ray came and pulled the chair out for me, I slipped into my seat and he ran round and took his own seat.

"So I'm guessing you probably don't want any wine tonight?" Ray asked.

"Probably not the best idea, no. Not that I was suffering from a hangover earlier on" I quickly explained.

"Oh no. Sorry I didn't mean to imply that you were hungover," he smiled awkwardly.

"I know I'm just messing with you" I laughed. We finished eating and I washed up. Ray had argued against it but I told him that it was the least I could do after everything he had done for me today.

I was cleaning the last plate when I felt Ray's strong arms circle around my waist. The next thing I felt was his warm breath fanning across the back of my neck. I closed my eyes as his lips pressed against my heated skin, a tingling sensation travelled down my spine. The plate splashed down into the bowl as I loosened my grip and turned into Ray, capturing his mouth in mine. My arms automatically wrapped around the back of his neck, bringing him closer to me. My tongue traced the outline of his bottom lip, his lips parted granting me access to his succulent mouth.

"Hmm" kiss "let's go" kiss "to bed" Ray said, grabbing my right hand and walking upstairs, shutting off the lights as we went past.

The next morning I woke up feeling a lot better. I got showered and dressed and kissed Ray on the forehead before going downstairs and pouring myself some cereal. As I sat there eating spoonful after spoonful I decided to pull out a piece of paper and write three simple words on it 'I love you' I propped the piece of paper up against the fruit bowl. As I left the house that morning I couldn't even remember what it was that I had been so stressed out about this past week.

"Excuse me, are you Neela Rasgotra?" A young man in a powder blue suit asked.

"Yes, can I help you sir?" He flung a brown envelope into my hand

"Consider yourself served" he said rather abruptly as he turned on his heel and began walking away.

"Excuse me?" I shouted at his retreating back.

"All the information is in the envelope" he shouted back without so much as a glance back in my direction.

I went into my office and threw the unopened envelope onto my desk, I sat down in my chair and just stared at the envelope, too scared to open it and look inside. I know I shouldn't have done it but I needed the support.

Ray turned up within five minutes of me paging him. "I got your page. What is it?" he asked breathlessly.

"On the desk" I pointed to the root of my trouble.

He picked up the envelope, inspected the label "Oh" his face dropped. "Want me to open it?"

" If you don't mind" I spoke softly.

He pulled out some papers and explained what I already knew, I was being sued for malpractice. "I'm so sorry babe" he whispered, placing the papers down on the desk. He walked over to me, his arms open.

"I need to get some air. Can you leave me alone" my tone was harsher than I had planned for it to be and as I brushed past him I recognized the hurt expression etched upon his face.

I ran upstairs and out onto the roof, I knew Ray well enough to know that he respected me enough not to follow. I stood there, the gentle summer breeze blowing in my face, it brought the smell of magnolias with it. I was collecting my thoughts when the door opened and out stepped Jo. "Oh hi Neela" she said sweetly. "I didn't realize they'd already sent you up here? I wouldn't have come up if I had known" she inwardly sighed.

"They didn't actually. I just came up here to get away from it all" I explained. Her face was the picture of confusion. "Back at County whenever it would get too much for us we would go up to the roof and reflect on things"

"Oh, OK" she smiled.

"I'm up here anyway I might as well help out. What have you got coming in?"

"I'm just here to pick up a heart that's being flown in from another hospital"

"OK, well I'll wait here and go back to the surgical floor with you"

"OK,. Looks like I'm up" Jo went running over to the chopper that was landing.

On our way down I started talking to Jo. I didn't really know anybody here and she had always seemed nice. Ray would certainly approve. Now that I was sure nothing was going on between them and that I had misunderstood everything, I felt it was only right to make nice. Just before Jo left to take the heart to the OR I asked "Do you want to come shopping with me this Saturday, we could get some lunch, make a day of it?"

"Sure, sounds like fun"she clapped her free hand to her forehead. "Wait, no I can't, I already have plans. I'm babysitting for my sister this weekend. Sorry, maybe some other time."

"Yeah, let me know" I waved goodbye.


	16. Lies

**Lies.**

**RPOV**

Neela and I had discussed her lawsuit over night and agreed that we would do everything together. We were going to hire the best lawyer we could afford. After talking about it Neela felt a little relieved to have gotten the whole thing off her chest. Her hearing was in a couple of weeks, until then I intended on doing what I could to make her forget.

"Hows my favourite lady doing?" I smiled as I picked up Mrs Smith's chart.

"Ooh, you are quite the charmer aren't you Dr. Barnett?"she blushed.

"Only with you Betty, only with you" I smirked. She returned an appreciative smile. "Looks like you've been working really hard the past couple of days" I was very impressed by how much improvement she had shown in just three days, she was well on her way to making a speedy recovery.

"Well the food here isn't that good" she whispered, shielding her mouth with her left hand.

"Just between us I'm not that impressed by it either" we both laughed. "Let's get you up and walking then"

Betty was able to walk about forty metres around the ward using myself and her IV stand for support. "Another week or so and I think you'll be on your way home" I smiled as I helped her back into the bedside chair.

"Good" she said a little breathlessly.

I went to the next patient. He was a man in his twenties who had been hit by a car and his legs had been badly broken. It was about a week after his accident and I had been assigned to him. "Hey man, I'm Ray Barnett, your physical therapist. Let me just take a quick look at your chart here" I said as I picked it up.

"No offence but I'm not ready for therapy yet. You might as well spend your time with someone you can help" he said unhappily, turning on his side so that his back was to me.

"Sorry no can do. Let's start with some range of motion exercises, OK?" I went to roll him onto his back so that we could start working.

"I said no. Just please leave me alone" he was close to tears.

"I can relate. You've just been in a nasty accident and you're in pain. I understand that this is the last thing you want to do now. Look if you don't start therapy now things are going to be harder for you in the long run" I said sympathetically.

"Don't act as if you know what I'm going through. A week ago my life was ripped apart" he screamed in frustration "What would you know about that?" he seethed.

"More than you think" I began. After taking a deep breath I went on to tell him about my own accident. "Look at me. I had to start over but I'm here and happier then I've ever been. So, how about it, want to give this a go?" He rolled over on his back. I slid my hand under his leg, supporting it by holding the back of his knee. I ordered him to lift his knee back towards himself and then straighten his leg.

"See that wasn't so bad was it?"

"Easy for you to say" he had worked up a light sweat doing this exercise.

"Think you can do it once more?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Once more and then we'll call it a day"

"OK" he sighed.

I had just finished working on a patient in one of the surgical wards. "Hi Ray" came Jo's friendly voice.

"Hi Jo" I smiled. "We still on for tomorrow?" I asked, whilst we walked down the hallway.

"Yeah, Neela asked me to go out with her tomorrow so I had to make up an excuse that I was babysitting for my sister. I don't think she will but just in case she asks I thought you should know what the story is."

"Thanks. Wow, that was a close one" I said to her.

"What are you going to say you're doing tomorrow?"

"Band practice, Neela can't know what we're doing Jo" I stressed.

"Oh I know. Don't worry Ray it's all going to be fine" she rubbed my shoulder.

"It's just I hate lying to her"

"It's only for one more day and then we can tell her everything."

**NPOV**

"I'm off to band practice" Ray kissed me on the cheek before leaving. He never usually rehearsed this early on in the day, it was only eleven o'clock. This gig that he had tomorrow night must be really important. He hadn't told me much about it though, he was being very secretive. Something about him not wanting to get his hopes up. Ray promised me that we would go out for a meal on Monday night, to make up for the fact that he was missing my birthday tomorrow.

I had the rest of the day to myself and nothing to do. I was pathetic I should have made friends with some people by now! Although, I was making progress with Jo, we had even had lunch together yesterday. Ray hadn't been able to join us as he was busy with a troublesome patient. Even now I still found myself immensely proud of Ray and the work that he did.

After making myself some lunch I decided that although I had no one to go with it shouldn't stop me from going shopping today. I jumped in my car and drove to the local mall.

I went to a few clothes stores and brought a new pair of jeans and a cute top that I could wear Monday night, as long as Ray wasn't taking me anywhere too posh!

I was hiding in a stall in the restroom, trying to comprehend what I had just seen. I had just finished making my purchases and was walking past a jewellery store when I saw Ray there. I found myself feeling excited that he was going to be getting me some jewellery for my birthday. That's when I saw her. He was there with Jo and she was putting a ring on her finger, not just any finger either. The sparkling ring was on the third finger of her left hand! I was close enough to hear Ray say "I'll take it" Then Jo jumped into his arms, hugging him, a big smile across her face. I felt physically sick and rushed to the nearest restrooms. I had thought that things between Ray and I were getting better. Yet here he was lying to me again, not only was he lying but so was Jo! I found myself wondering if she even had a sister, or was it all just an excuse?

That night around ten o'clock Ray called. "Hi babe, look I'm going to have to pull an all nighter here at Bret's place. I'm really sorry"

"That's OK I understand. You and the guys have a really important gig tomorrow and you need to practice" I didn't let on that I knew he was lying. This was a conversation we needed to have face to face not over the phone.

"I love you" he said softly.

I heard Jo's voice in the background "Ray come on we've got to get to the hotel"

"Bye" I said slamming the phone down, unable to bring myself to say the three words I knew that Ray was waiting to hear.


	17. The Truth

**The Truth.**

**RPOV**

I was on the phone with Neela when Jo called "Ray come on we've got to get to the hotel"

"Bye" Neela shouted before slamming the phone down on me. Neela had begun acting cold and distant again. I thought we had gotten over the hiccup in our relationship. I couldn't worry about it now though Jo and I were on our way to the hotel.

"Ray it's been ages. How are you?" Morris came up to me and gave me a manly hug.

"I'm good. How about you man?" A woman stepped up beside him.

"Ray, this is Claudia. We're engaged, can you believe it Archie Morris engaged" he beamed.

"Congratulations. Nice to meet you" I said to Claudia.

"Same to you" she smiled.

"I'm just gonna have a word with my man here" Morris said to Claudia before dragging me away.

"Got to say Ray I'm impressed. Not only did you invite Gates but Brenner as well. I know I wouldn't want my girlfriend's ex at a surprise birthday party that I organized" he said in hushed tones.

"Well this is a party for Neela and she's still friends with them. It would be wrong of me to invite everyone else and not them. Got to say I'm sort of surprised at how many of you have turned up. There is some staff left running the ER, right?" I asked, worried at the idea that I had left County General ER unstaffed.

"You are a funny one" Morris laughed, patting me on the back.

"Err, thanks" I smiled politely.

"Ray, over here" I heard Abby's familiar voice, I searched through the crowd for her face. When I spotted her I quickly walked over to her. Since arriving at the hotel I seemed to have lost Jo somewhere I'm sure she was just mingling with people.

"I'm so glad to see you" I hugged Abby.

"Good to see you to Ray" she hugged me back.

"Where's Luka and Joe?" I asked, noticing she was on her own.

"Oh their around here somewhere. So it's almost d-day?" she inquired.

Assuming she somehow had worked out that I was going to propose tomorrow I asked "How did you know? Jo is the only one I've told?"

"Ray, what on earth are you talking about? Most of County are here. Did you announce it in the newspaper or something?"

"Haha" I nervously chuckled. "Something like that"

"Ray, is this going to be more than a birthday party?" She had picked up on my mistake and by the look on her face wasn't going to drop it until I told her my plans.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course" her interest was piqued.

"I'm going to propose to Neela tomorrow night. Got a ring and everything" I whipped the box out of my jeans pocket and showed Abby the ring.

"Wow, big step" Abby let out a breath. "She'll love the ring by the way"

"You really think so?"

"I know so" she hugged me again "I'm really happy for you two"

"Happy for who?" Luka walked up behind Abby, holding Joe in his arms. The kid had gotten big since the last time I saw him. "Hi Ray, good to see you. Happy for who?" He repeated his question to Abby.

"Um, just happy that thing's seem to be going well for Ray and Neela" Abby lied, Luka looked unconvinced but let it go.

"How old is he now?" I said, pointing to Joe.

"Two and a half" Luka replied. "Joe say hello to Ray" Luka coaxed his son.

"Hi" his little voice squeaked.

"Hey" I replied. "Neela, is gonna be psyched to see you" she loved Joe.

"I should probably leave you guys be. I'm sure you want to go and check in and get the little one to bed. See you tomorrow"

After meeting and greeting everyone, Jo and I drove back to Bret's. She slipped upstairs while I crashed out on his couch. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, possibly one of the biggest of my life. I couldn't help feeling nervous.

"Wakey, wakey eggs and bacey" Jo sing songed.

"Go away" I chucked a cushion at her. How could she be so chirpy this early on in the morning? I glanced down at my watch, ten am all ready. OK, strike that last comment it wasn't really that early on in the morning.

As I sat eating my eggs and bacon that Jo had cooked I began pondering whether it would be appropriate to call Neela at work to wish her a happy birthday. I decided probably not. I had meant to set my alarm for six am so that I could call home, with all the excitement of meeting old friends last night it must have just slipped my mind.

We discussed our plans for the evening as we ate. "You're going to pop into work and ask Neela to come out with you for a drink and bring her to the hall, where us and all her friends will be waiting to surprise her" I said to Jo.

"What if she doesn't want to go with me for a drink? I'm not all that sure that she actually likes me" Jo replied before biting down on a crispy piece of bacon.

"Just give her some sob story or something, I don't care how you do it just make sure you get her there" My voice raised slightly as I tried to emphasise the importance of Neela being there.

"Ray, we got time for another rehearsal before we need to get over to the hall and start setting things up?"

"Yeah, get the guys round. We need to be perfect" I explained.

**NPOV**

After my shift I was ready to go home and relax in a nice bubble bath with a glass of wine. I wanted to wallow in my self-pity. I didn't expect the people I worked with to know that it was my birthday as I hadn't told anyone. Why hadn't Ray called and wished me a happy birthday though? Oh yes that's right how I could I forget he was head over heels in love with Jo!

"Hi Neela" It was Jo bouncing along towards me. I hated that she looked so happy when I felt so miserable.

"Do you want to come and have a drink with me. My treat" she smiled.

In some respects it was the last thing I wanted to do, but then again I needed to have a conversation with her. "Sure, why not" I smiled back, grabbing my bag.

The drive over was full of inane chatter. Things like how was work? What did you do on your day off? Etc...etc... She pulled up outside some building that looked nothing like a bar. "Jo, are you sure that we're in the right place?" I asked, wondering where she was taking me.

"Yes" she nodded, she pulled out her mobile and quickly typed and sent a text, we stopped walking as she did this and stood waiting until she had a reply. This was one of my bug bears that people stopped to text or talk on their mobile, hello people it's called a mobile for a reason!

"Follow me" she gestured with her hand.

We walked into the building and she lead us down to a set of double doors, when she pushed the doors open it was pitch black. "Jo, I really don't think this is the right place?" I was just about to walk away when someone hit the lights and there was a big chorus of "Surprise" and then party poppers were banging, spilling their stringy contents everywhere.

"Happy birthday babe" Ray, walked out of the crowd and planted a soft kiss on my lips. Being caught unaware I kissed him back and momentarily forgot all about what I had seen yesterday.

"Oh my God" I said, as I scanned the room I saw lots of familiar faces. Morris, Tony, Simon, Sam, Lucien, Abby, Luka and Joe. Even Haleh, Chunie and Malik were here. "Did you do all of this?" I asked Ray.

"Just a little party with some close friends that I rustled up" he smiled cheekily.

"Thank you" I replied, stunned by what he had done for me. Also a little confused as to why when I knew that he was cheating on me. Unless this was to make up for the fact that he was about to break up with me.

Ray and I mingled with the guests for a little while, playing our parts of a happy couple to perfection. Nobody had a clue what was going on. Ray's arm was draped around my shoulder when we were talking to Tony and Simon. It were as if he were staking his territory or something, pathetic really.

"See you later" Ray whispered and kissed my cheek before running over to the stage and picking up his guitar.

"I'd like to dedicate this to someone who I think we can all agree is pretty special. Neela, this is for you" then he and his band performed Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight. Ray never took his eyes off of me as he sang the song. "Neela can you come up on stage please?" Ray asked. What was he doing? A cheer erupted from the room around me, so I indulged everyone by doing as he asked.

He bent down on one knee and pulled a ring sized box from his pocket. "Neela Rasgotra, I know that this may be a bit quick but I've loved you since we were roomies and I don't want to lose you. Will you marry me?" he lifted the box towards me. The room held their breath awaiting my response.

"Aren't you supposed to be giving this to Jo?" I shouted.

"Who's Jo?" I heard Morris ask.

"Wh-at?" he laughed.

"I know you're having an affair Ray. I'm not stupid. I saw you together buying this ring. You didn't come home last night because you went to a hotel with her. You lie when she calls you at home..." I was interrupted by Ray.

"Jo helped me pick out the ring for you. We were meeting everybody at the hotel last night and the calls have been about the party and that's why I lied. I swear Neela, there's nothing going on between Jo and I. Jo and Bret are dating. Bret tell her will you" he appealed for Bret's help.

"It's true Jo and I are in a relationship"

"Yeah, well you would stick up for your mate wouldn't you. Sorry Ray, my answer is no" I ran out of the hall and into the street.

It wasn't long before I was joined by Abby. "I don't want to talk about it Abby"

"Neela, just stop and think about this. Ray really was at the hotel meeting all of us. Also he has been planning this birthday party for a month. You should listen to him. He's a wreck back in that hall at the moment, worried that he's lost you all over again"

"Good, serves him right" I spat.

"God Neela, Ray's one of the good ones. How long did he wait for you to sort through all your baggage? Even after you just humiliated him in front of all your friends he still wants to be with you. That means something right?"

"It still doesn't change that he lied to me Abby"

"It was an innocent lie" she reasoned.

"He's not the only one that has sacrificed for this relationship. I left everything I knew behind just to be with him"

"Exactly, so wouldn't it be stupid to give up at the first hurdle? Neela, do you love Ray?"

"Yes" I admitted.

"So don't you think you owe it to him and to you to give this thing a shot?"

"I just don't know Abby. Isn't it meant to be easy when you're with the right person. It just seems so hard"

"It's never easy. You have to work at a relationship"

"I guess"


	18. Epilogue

**A/N Last bit of the story : (. A few thank yous. Massive thanks to Everclearbabe who helped develop the plot line for the story, big thanks to Sophieisapickle for being someone to bounce ideas off of and a big thanks to Historianic for reviews and kind words of encouragement.**

**Epilogue.**

I woke up in the hospital. Ray was at my bedside, a massive grin on his face. I still felt a little groggy from the medication. "Why are you so happy?" I asked, a smile spreading across my face as I looked at him. I'm so glad that I had listened to Abby that night three years ago when she convinced me to give Ray and I a chance. We had now been happily married for two years.

"There's someone I want to introduce you to" he stood up and walked over to a cot and carefully picked up our baby. "Neela say hello to our son" he passed him over to me before sitting back down.

"Hi, there" I said as I checked ten fingers, ten toes. Our son was beautiful. I even found his yawn cute. "He's so beautiful" a tear rolled down my cheek. It was a happy tear that I had shed.

"Yeah, luckily he takes after you" Ray smiled.

"Ray, would it be OK if we called him Michael?" I asked.

"Michael Barnett, I like it" he leaned over and kissed my forehead.

I knew that Ray would know where my inspiration had come from, my first husband. As I lay here with my family I remembered the video that Michael had made for me, where he had said that he wanted me to be happy, remarry and have babies. I was finally happy and I had Ray to thank for it.

**A/N Well that's it. Hope you enjoyed my story and thank you for your continued reading. **


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